Martyrological iconography and the mystic experience: Cracow painting of the second half of the 20th century

Abstract

Messianic-martyrological iconography has always been a crucial factor in shaping the Polish national identity, especially in the periods when Poland lost its independence. That was the case during the Partitions, the Polish-Soviet war, and the Second World War. Raised on the foundations of traditional Polish religiousness and the messianic philosophy of the literary-intellectual elites, martyrological iconography visualized the theological and historiosophical sense of suffering, the role of Poland among the nations of the world, and the eschatological perspective on history. Also in the 1980s, within the independent culture movement, artists frequently reached for this verified repertoire of those symbolic-expressive devices; considering the social and political context, it was a natural direction. The Cracow artists chose a different path, despite being deeply involved in the anti-Communist independent movement, and despite quite often searching for inspiration in the thought and tradition of the Church. In the Cracow circles of painters, messianic-martyrological iconography was a marginal form of expression. That difference was undoubtedly rooted in the intellectual and cultural experience of the old Polish capital. After 1945, the theological-metaphysical reflection gave rise to a multitude of diverse but continuous artistic phenomena, extending in their continuum until today. This situation was certainly affected by several factors: the conservatism of the intellectual elites, the unbroken cultural continuum since the 19th century, the clerical character of the city (with many monastic orders and several seminaries, functioning even today, and the John Paul II Pontifical University, then named the Pontifical Academy of Theology), the activity of the weekly “Tygodnik Powszechny” and the publishing house “Znak”. Cracow being a large academic centre, with numerous higher education institutions and vast artistic-humanist circles, favoured the polarization of attitudes, from conservative to avant-garde ones. Nevertheless, the presence of an intellectually potent local Church – open to dialogue and the post-Council changes, but also boasting many distinguished personalities – could not remain unechoed in the creative work of the most notable artists.