Formizm (English: Formism) was an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

literary and artistic

movement Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

active in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

between 1917 and 1922. It drew inspirations from

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

as well as Polish

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

. Together with Unism, started by

Władysław Strzemiński Władysław Strzemiński (Polish pronunciation: ; ; 21 November 1893 – 26 December 1952) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, pedagogue, and soldier. He is regarded as a pioneer of Constructivist avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s and the ...

in the early 1920s, Formism was one of the two independently Polish avant-garde movements.

History

The movement began in 1917 in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

where several artists united under the banner of Polish Expressionists. Their first exhibition was organized at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Kraków on 4 November 1917. In 1919, a year after Poland had regained its independence, the group adopted the name (Formists), reflecting their interest in examining the question of form in visual art and an intention to move beyond Expressionism. The Formists opposed naturalism in

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and wished to incorporate influences from other Western avant-garde movements, particularly

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, to create an independent Polish movement. To that end, the Formists incorporated various elements of Polish folk, including motifs from glass painting from the

Podhale Podhale (; ), sometimes referred to as the Polish Highlands, is Poland's southernmost region. The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the Carpathian Mountains. It is the most famous region of the Goral Lands which are a ...

region. Beyond Kraków, the movement was also active in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

. Between 1919 and 1921, the group published a periodical titled (''The Formists'') which "became a platform for the exchange of progressive ideas developed in parallel across Europe"' and facilitated connections between Western and Central and Eastern European modern artists.{{Cite journal , last=Strożek , first=Przemyslaw , date=2013 , title=The Magazine Formiści and the Early International Contacts of the Polish Avant-Garde (1919–1921) , journal=Rocznik Historii Sztuki , publisher=Polish Academy of Sciences , publication-place=Warsaw , volume=38 Its members included

Leon Chwistek Leon Chwistek (Kraków, Austria-Hungary, 13 June 1884 – Barvikha near Moscow, Russia, 20 August 1944) was a Polish logician, philosopher, mathematician, avant-garde painter, theoretician of modern art and literary critic. Career and philosoph ...

Tytus Czyżewski Tytus Czyżewski (28 December 1880 in Przyszowa – 5 May 1945 in Kraków) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, Futurism (art), Futurist poet, playwright, member of the Formizm, Polish Formists and a Kapists, Colorist. Biography In 1902 he s ...

, Zbigniew Pronaszko, Andrzej Pronaszko, Konrad Winkler, August Zamoyski, Jan Hrynkowski, Tymon Niesiołowski,

Jacek Mierzejewski Jacek Mierzejewski (1883, Częstochowa - 1925, Otwock) was a Polish painter, associated with "Formism", a Polish art movement that combined Cubism, Impressionism and Futurism. Biography He began his studies at the Warsaw School of Drawing, then ...

, Zygmunt Radnicki and

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (; 24 February 188518 September 1939), commonly known as Witkacy, was a Polish writer, painter, philosopher, theorist, playwright, novelist, and photographer active before World War I and during the interwar period. ...

, among other writers and visual artists.

References

Polish art Modern art Kraków

History

See also

References