Collection. 20 Years of Starmach Gallery

The British are impressed by the quality of Polish contemporary art, especially Mirosław Bałka’s exhibition in the Tate’s Modern Turbine Hall. However, to see Bałka you don’t have to go to London. His works along with many others are on display at the exhibition called “A Collection. Twenty Years of the Starmach Gallery” held in the Main Building of the National Museum in Kraków. This exhibition features the key works of Poland’s leading contemporary artists.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Kraków-based Galeria Starmach, one of the most important art galleries in Poland. Over two decades the owners of the gallery, Teresa and Andrzej Starmach, have organized more than 100 exhibitions and gathered a huge collection of Polish contemporary art. The most valuable and interesting part of this collection, i.e. the works of Poland’s most influential artists - paintings, sculptures, photographs and installations – are featured at the exhibition entitled "A Collection. Twenty Years of the Starmach Gallery" held in the Main Building of the National Museum in Kraków.

“The history of our collection is much longer than the history of the Starmach Gallery itself. The idea of opening a private gallery of Polish contemporary art was conceived when we were still studying art history. At that time this idea seemed not only risky but also absurd. The origins of our collection go back to the early 1970s when we started buying works of art for what now seems relatively little money. The profile of our gallery resulted in a very natural way from the friendships and aquaintancies with the artists belonging to the Kraków Group (Grupa Krakowska) such as Jerzy Nowosielski, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Teresa Rudowicz, Marian Warzecha, as well as those not attached to this group, like Henryki Stażewski and Ryszard Winiarski. We have never followed trends. The character of the Starmach Gallery hasn’t changed over all these years, and although the number of artists collaborating with us has gradually become larger, we have always favoured the classics of Polish art in the broad sense of this term,” say Teresa and Andrzej Starmach.

The exhibition on display at the temporary exhibition hall of the Museum's Main Building has been organized by the Starmach Gallery and the National Museum in Kraków. The exhibition does not follow any chronological order but is based around some surprising juxtapositions of works by artists seemingly differing from each other, e.g. Andrzej Wróblewski and Marek Chlanda, Henryk Stażewski and Marzena Nowak, Mikołaj Smoczyński and Zofia Gutkowska-Nowosielska, Katarzyna Kobro, Maria Jarema and Andrzej Pawłowski. "The goal was to highlight the similarities of the ways of artistic search taken up by different generations of artists from our collection" - explain Teresa and Andrzej Starmach.

Apart from the above-mentioned artists, the exhibition features works of Marek Piasecki, Koji Kamoji, Mirosław Bałka, Stanisław Dróżdż, Natalia LL, Winiarski, Edward Krasiński, Tadeusz Kantor, Nowosielski, Jonasz Stern, Brzozowski, Roman Opałka, Jan Tarasin, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia, Piotr Lutyński, Marta Deskur, Tomasz Ciecierski, Andrzej Szewczyk, and Mikołaj Smoczyński.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue containing reproductions of all the featured works together with accompanying descriptions and an essay by Anda Rottenberg.

The exhibition is held under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Mr Bogdan Zdrojewski.

Exhibition is part of the Collections and Collectors series organized by the National Museum in Kraków

www.starmach.com.pl

Collection. 20 Years of Starmach Gallery
Teresa & Andrzej Starmach Collection
Kurator: Andrzej Starmach

Künstler: Andrzej Wroblewski, Markek Chlanda, Henryk Stazewski, Marzena Nowak, Mikotaj Smoczynski, Zofia Gutkowska-Nowosielska, Katarzyna Kobro, Maria Jarema, Andrzej Pawtowski, Marek Piasecki, Koji Kamoji, Mirostaw Batka, Stanistaw Drozdz, Natalia LL , Ryszard Winiarski, Edward Krasinski, Tadeusz Kantor, Jerzy Nowosielski, Jonasz Stern, Brzozowski, Roman Opatka, Jan Tarasin, Grzegorz Sztwiertnia, Piotr Lutynski, Marta Deskur, Tomasz Ciecierski, Andrzej Szewczyk, Julita Wojcik, Wtadystaw Strzeminski ...