Na „wieczorze obłąkańców". Sztuka formistów w krzywym zwierciadle krytyki międzywojennej

Abstract

"At the Lunatics' Night" The Formists in the Distorting Mirror of the Interwar Art Criticism

Most Polish critics, especially those educated to respect the 19th-century naturalist aesthetics, could not accept any sort of antimimetic treatment of art. In this rejection they eagerly employed their trusted methods and familiar habit to criticise the misunderstood and let their ignorance and incapacity hide behind invectives. It is indeed very difficult to provide a different reading of the reviews of the first exhibitions of Formist artists and the so-called new art since all of them display a sense of superiority and disdain for their subject. Not uncommon were accusations of aesthetic perversion, "morbid hallucinations" ultra-futurist quackery, and unhealthy propensity for absurdity and eccentricity. According to the critics, "descriptive geometry" and senses-shocking shapes marked a clean break from the fundamental laws of beauty and logic, from the aesthetics that seemed both unquestionable and intransgressible. As late as the second decade of the 20th century, Polish press was filled with terms such as "the lunatics' night”, “delirious frenzy" or "artistic ragtag" of the Formists. Curiously, those diagnoses that set to read modernist works as created by mentally unstable individuals, frequently came together with accusations of dilettantism, ignorance, childishness, illogical thinking, or even idiocy and moronism. The aim of such claims was clear - to discredit modern art, to show that it could not be taken seriously as something beyond the established boundaries of any known artistic criteria and norms. As such it did not require critics to provide any additional explanation. On the other hand, however, the common use of mental illness-related metaphors proves that works by young artists were seen as posing a serious threat and substantial problem - a problem that required taking decisive countermeasures.