Modern Art Museum/ Contemporary Art museum in Lodz is one of the
oldest such museums in the world. The history of the museum dates
back to the 30s of the 20th century, when a group of radical artists
began collecting works of the most interesting artists for the
museum. European avant-garde artists greeted the idea with great
enthusiasm, many famous artists (Fernand Leger, Max Ernst, Kurt
Schwitters, Hans Arp) donated their works to the museum.
The
museum, which tells about the main areas of art: cubism, futurism,
purism, avant-garde, surrealism, constructivism, opened its doors to
visitors on February 15, 1931. Since then, the collection has been
constantly expanding, at present the museum is the only one in
Poland with such an extensive collection of world art of the 20th
and 21st centuries. The uniqueness of this museum lies in the fact
that the collection was collected by only five people: Vladislav
Strzeminsky, Jan Bzekowiski, Julian Prubos, Henrik Stazewski and
Kobro. Their activities and contacts, stretching from Moscow to
Paris, made it possible to create an outstanding international
collection, which included the works of the most progressive
representatives of the European avant-garde, whose names will only
later be included in the canon of contemporary art.
After
World War II, in 1948, the museum was reopened in one of the palaces
of the Poznanski family.
The close relationship between the
artists and the museum led to numerous donations in the post-war
period. In 1945, Karol Hiller's widow donated her legacy to the
museum. In 1957, thanks to the efforts of Parisian artists Denise
Rene, Michel Seup, Edouard Jaguer and others, the museum received
many interesting works. In 1975 Mateusz Grabowski - owner of a
gallery in London, donated 230 works of the most famous young
British artists. The most important event in 1981 was the visit of
Joseph Beuys, during which he donated to the museum a significant
part of his archives, containing about a thousand works.
The
museum is now housed in a former 19th century weaving factory, where
it moved in 2008. The presented collection looks completely new. The
museum abandoned the chronological order of presentation of works in
favor of four important themes: "Body, Injuries, Cuts",
"Construction, Utopia, Politics", "Eye, Image, Reality", "Object,
Fetish, Fantasy".
The aim of the exhibition is to continually
renew works of art so that visitors have the opportunity to deepen
their experience and understanding of the reality that surrounds
them.