Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

curator: Katarzyna Jóźwiak-Moskal
exhibition design: Robert Rumas
exhibition production: Karolina Jezierska-Pomorska, Anna Muszyńska
collaboration: Michał Jachuła
installation: Andrzej Bialik, Dariusz Bochenek, Mateusz Czapigo, Jędrzej Iwanicki,
Remigiusz Olszewski, Grzegorz Ostromecki, Paweł Ostromecki, Piotr Wierzejski
conservator: Michalina Sobierajska
exhibition communication: Zofia Koźniewska, Milena Liebe, Alicja Malicka, Aleksandra Sienkiewicz
programme accompanying the exhibition: Cezary Lisowski, Jędrzej Zakrzewski
accessibility: Emilia Rudzka

The exhibition presents a wide selection of works by Henryk Lula — artist, teacher and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. Comprising over 100 objects, it is the most comprehensive presentation to date of the achievements of this outstanding artist, who has worked in the technique and medium of ceramics from the 1950s to the present day. The theme of matter, emphasised in the title, corresponds to the conceptual message of the presentation, as well as the artist’s theoretical reflection on its role in art. The exhibition also explores the question of the development of the modern ceramic tradition in Poland, eluding the criteria of applied art or design, which has been vibrant on the Polish art scene since the 1960s.

Handcrafted unique objects governed by the laws of physics, thermal and chemical processes — including shells, bottles, platters, containers, flat, round, concave and convex forms — are Lula’s preferred repertoire of open and closed solids and structures, understood as autonomous works, their integrity co-created by the colours and textures developed during the glazing and firing stages. Original glazes, created by Henryk Lula himself and precisely matched to the shape of the forms, enhance the works in such a way that they become an inseparable unity of ceramics, understood as the art of matter. Examples of works composed in sets based on harmony or contrast of forms serve to reveal the complexity and nuances of ceramic design, determined by refined technique and artistic sophistication and characterised by a wide range of potential possibilities.

The exhibition also presents Henryk Lula’s work and participation in the reconstruction of a Renaissance ceramic masterpiece — the Great Stove from the Artus Court in Gdańsk, an object of great importance for the European cultural heritage.

Henryk Lula (b. 1930) studied at the Faculty of Sculpture at the State College of Fine Arts in Gdańsk from 1950 to 1956. After graduating, he spent several years taking part in the restoration of the sculptural decorations in Gdańsk’s Old Town. In 1992, he was commissioned to make copies of the destroyed and missing tiles from the Renaissance Great Stove in the Artus Court. One of Lula’s most important architectural projects is a monumental ceramic bas-relief in the Ministry of Justice’s holiday home in Lisi Jar near Jastrzębia Góra. From 1977 to 1997 he was the head of the Ceramics Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.

^{photo: Turquoise Platter, 2001, fot. Jacek Zdybel}