Motywy antyczne niedostrzegane? „Antykizujące” godła międzywojennych krakowskich kamienic a „klasyczne” motywy w polskim malarstwie i grafice lat 20. i 30. XX wieku

Abstract

Unnoticed ancient motifs? : “antiquitising” emblems on interwar town houses in Kraków and “classical” motifs in Polish paintings and graphics of the 1920s and 1930s

This article discusses sculptural visual signs placed as emblems on the facades of town houses and institutional buildings in Kraków. These emblems had appeared in the city as early as the Middle Ages and since then have been a characteristic element of both the interior and exterior design of buildings. Various artistic signs in the form of sculptural decorations identified certain buildings in the Old City. In the 20th century, however, they served to decorate buildings instead. The fashion for placing emblems on the facades of houses returned to Kraków in the interwar period, thanks to local artists and architects, at a time of intensives urban development in the city. These activities were even regulated by special municipal and state ordinances. Among the numerous emblems of legendary, religious, genre and animal themes, one can distinguish a certain group of artistic signs with an antiquitising character. These represent mythological, symbolic and allegorical figures such as Greek deities, satyrs, centaurs, dragons and putti, as well as idyllic themes. Some of these were created by famous Krakow sculptors, both traditional and avant-garde, such as Karol Muszkiet, Franciszek Kalfas and Henryk Wiciński, as well as by graduates of the local Academy of Fine Arts. These works were inspired by contemporary paintings and graphics, and, above all, by the prevailing aesthetics of Art Deco. The noticeable influence of the decorative art of the Warsaw group “Rhythm”, active during the years 1922–1932, is of particular importance in this case. The creators of these carved emblems interpreted traditional themes and iconographic solutions present in European art and deriving from Antiquity.