2024-04-25
The Neoplastic Room, designed by Władysław Strzemiński and opened in 1948 at the Museum of Art in Łódź, displayed unique works. The exhibition, however, did not fit into the rigid framework of socialist realism and was therefore destroyed in 1950. The reconstruction of the exhibition was undertaken in 1960 by Strzemiński's pupil Bolesław Utkin.
Władysław Strzemiński (1893-1952) was a Polish painter, assistant to Kazimir Malevich, art theorist and pioneer of the avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. He belonged to the group ,"Blok" and "Praesens", and in 1928, together with Katarzyna Kobro, he founded the artistic group ,"a.r.". It was this group's collection of works that found its place in the Neoplastic Room, opened in 1948 in the space of the former palace of Maurycy Poznański. The collection included world-class works by European and Polish avant-garde artists, art by, among others: Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Theo van Doesburg, Henryk Stażewski, Katarzyna Kobro and Władysław Strzemiński himself. The walls of the exhibition were covered with colourful polychromes, painted rectangles in the three primary colours plus white and black.
Modern for the time, the exhibition only lasted two years. By order of the authorities in 1950, the coloured walls were painted over and the works, which had little to do with socialist realism, were put into storage. Strzeminski himself, in the same year, lost his position at the State Higher School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Łódź, which he had held since 1945.
Ten years after the events in question, a decision was made to reconstruct the Neoplastic Room. This effort was undertaken by a pupil of Władysław Strzemiński, Bolesław Utkin, and was aided by surviving plans. In addition to the reconstruction of the Neoplastic Room, Utkin also designed the so-called small Neoplastic Room, where Strzemiński's paintings were placed.
In 2008, the collection of modern and contemporary art was moved from the Poznański Palace to ms2, a 19th-century weaving mill in Manufaktura. The Neoplastic Room remained in its original location and can now be visited in its new version on the top floor of the building. Since 2010, the exhibition has been open to the public as: "Neoplastic Room. Open Composition". The artistic arrangement of Władysław Strzemiński is accompanied by an exhibition of works by contemporary artists.