Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Poland- Museum Sztuki MS2

This is the first of several posts on Poland. I was excited to visit for a good number of reasons, but primarily I was interested in visiting a post-communist country. Granted, the Poles like the Hungarians never really took to socialism. I can't really think of any nation that did- with the exception of Russia. And the Russians- for the most part- imposed the puppet regimes on central and eastern Europe like a sinus infection: the gift that keeps giving!

But that doesn't mean the brothers of Marx, Lenin, Kruschev didn't leave remnants that are worth seeing. I have always been fascinated by the modernist architecture (that's a euphemism for those blocks of dreary apartment buildings we would affectionately call 'public housing' here). But it has always been the visual images of socialism that have drawn me, and in particular their mural art.

So while in Lodz I visited the Museum Sztuki for the Modernizations 'Future Perfect: 1918-1939 exhibit. The socialists of the early 20th century were fond of this concept of improvement.


Going as far as to improve the mundane- as evidenced at left. The ms2 exhibit features a good number of Baltic Modernist murals from this era. This would include images from Poland, Latvia, Estonia, The Czech Republic and Hungary.






I was particularly enamoured of the Hungarian works. They seemed to speak directly to the misbegotten Magyar. This one from May of 1919:


Other issue more general warnings:



I think I have found my new muse and calling in the Baltic Modernist movement!