@ARTICLE{Kulpińska_Katarzyna_Polish_2018, author={Kulpińska, Katarzyna}, number={No XLIII}, journal={Rocznik Historii Sztuki}, pages={89-104}, howpublished={online}, year={2018}, publisher={Komitet Nauk o Sztuce PAN}, abstract={The panorama of creative attitudes, the forms of expression and the techniques present in Polish graphic art around the year 1918 was very vast. The graphic artists dedicated to realistic mode of imaging, the visionaries as well as the innovators of the first avant-garde, searching for fresh means of expression in graphic arts worked next to one another. The artwork referring to the fights in the fronts of World War I, the illustrations of everyday prison camp existence, the portraits of the commanders as well as the privates of Legiony (Leopold Gottlieb’s file of lithographs, 1916) were created simultaneously to the works by Felix Jabłczyński (who experimented with various graphic techniques, but also referred the current political situation in his works) or the 1st file of lithographs, Bożki Słowiańskie [Slavic Idols] (1918), by Zofia Stryjeńska. Between 1917 and 1921, the artists of the first avant-garde (from Formiści and Bunt art groups) who practiced graphic arts continued their endeavours in searching for a new form, initiated several years earlier. In 1918, Władysław Skoczylas, the author of a woodcut Święty Boże (Wojna) [Holy God (War)] from 1916, a work which opened a new chapter in the history of Polish woodcut, moved permanently to Warsaw. Regaining of national independence and shaping the borders of the Second Repu blic was mirrored in symbolic lithographs by Felicjan S. Kowarski, dating around 1921. Around 1918, the explorations within graphic arts made by the artists from Krakow and Warsaw were enhanced by some new centres, up to then outermost realm of the map of art. One of such places was Toruń, where, in 1920, Konfrateria Toruńska [Toruń Confraternity] was established. Its members practiced artistic and functional graphic art as well. One of them, Felicjan S. Kowarski, founded Artistic-Graphic Workshop “Sztuka”. In 1919 in Poznań, the State School of Decorative Arts and Art Industry was established (with the graphic arts department); in 1920 on Bydgoszcz the State School of Art Industry (with Karol Mondral as its graphic arts instructor). In 1919, the Faculty of Fine Arts at Vilnius Batory University created the Studio of Applied Arts (with Decorations and Graphic Arts Studios). The same year, the Association of Polish Graphic Artists, functioning nationwide, was founded. The article signals the wealth of initiatives as well as the formal and ideological diversity of graphic works created around 1918, those referring to the war and independence issues as well as those aimed at perfecting the technique, the novelty of form, and those revealing certain style-genic aspirations. The author attempts to answer the question of the place of creative (and functional) graphic arts in the first years of the reborn Polish state and indicates which concepts (present around 1918) lay at the foundation of the unprecedented blossoming of graphic arts that occurred the Second Polish Republic.}, type={Artykuły / Articles}, title={Polish artistic graphics around 1918. Graphic artists towards war, independence and a new reality}, URL={http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/108984/PDF/RHS%20XLIII%202018%207-K.Kulpinska.pdf}, doi={10.24425/rhs.2018.124938}, }