Polish Studies at the Bard Graduate Center

• The Institution
• Polish Studies
• Poland-Related Courses
• Faculty

535 Decorative Arts of Poland @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The art of Poland is one of the least studied of the decorative arts. There are several reasons for this, including the barriers in language, politics and culture. The exoticism of the Sarmatian culture, the defense of a national identity under partition, the experience of social realism, and the still-existent folk culture have all helped to create a hermetic art incomprehensible to outside observers. This phenomenon was accompanied by the incessant influx of art and culture from Western Europe and eventually from the United States. This process, which began in the Middle Ages, late brought with it stylistic influences, including the Italian renaissance and baroque as well as French rococo and classicism. Poland remained under the influence of French culture through the 1950s. Thereafter, in spite of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain, a strong Anglo-Saxon influence developed. This course explores this mixture of local tradition and Western culture that has shaped the decorative arts in Poland from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.

508 The Arts of East Central Europe @ @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An introduction to the decorative arts of the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and Poland from the prehistoric times to the time of the Great Moravian jewelers (circa 800), through the renaissance to the present day. Located at the heavily traversed crossroads of numerous ethnic groups and cultures, this part of the European continent produced some of the richest bodies of imported and vernacular decorative arts in the last five centuries. Nevertheless, this work has remained among the least understood of decorative arts. The course emphasizes the work of the major urban center and that of the varied regions.