Polish group of avant-garde artists, initially active in 1933-9 and later revived. Based in Krak?w, the group included young painters and sculptors, students and graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts, Krak?w: Sasza Blonder, B. Gr?nberg, Maria Jarema, L. Lewicki, S. Osostowicz, S. Piasecki, B. Stawinski, J. Stern, Henryk Wicinski, and A. Winnicki, as well as more loosely affiliated members: F. Jazwiecki and Adam Marczynski. The group arose from a larger students' group, Zywi, with 30 members, founded in the academy in early 1932, which developed in reaction to the conservative teaching methods, as well as in response to the political atmosphere of the 1930s and its effect after the collapse of various Constructivist groupings. The Krak?w group, whose membership was affiliated to the Academic Left and the already-banned Polish Communist Party, defined its activities as revolutionary, pro-proletarian and anti-nationalist. The young artists were related by a free, liberal artistic programme, and their activities came into conflict with the authorities of the academy, who had recourse to expulsions and permitted police interventions and arrests at academy exhibitions. The artists associated with the working-class movement and the trade union movement employed the slogan 'proletarian arts' but, unlike the Constructivist group, forbore to define their programme. Their main aim was the defence of their threatened freedoms, and thus, for example, they responded to the call directed to all artists on 1 May 1934 to form 'a common front in opposition to the Fascisization of life in Poland, and to threats against independent creativity'.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
