25 October – 30 December 2025
Fot. M. Derejczyk, M. Lorek
Curator of the exhibition: Emilia Jeziorowska
The individual exhibition dedicated to Jan Giejson showcases sculptures which are part of the collection in the Ethnographic Museum in Wrocław, as well as his latest works.
Jan Giejson (b. 1947) who lives in Bardo is a self-taught artist and a member of the Association of Folk Artists since 1974. His art is predominantly centred around religious themes, mainly biblical scenes, figures of the Saints and angels, often also showing scenes from everyday life. The artist has won competitions and art reviews, and for many years has been showing his works in his own art gallery, one of the most renowned places on the map of Bardo.
The collection housed in the Ethnographic Museum – Branch of the National Museum in Wrocław comprises 15 sculptures by Jan Giejson, some of them acquired already in the 1970s, and other ten added in the summer of 2024.
During the disastrous flooding in September 2024 both the home and the studio of the artist were seriously damaged, and some of his works were destroyed. As part of a grant awarded by the Lower Silesia Voivodeship, the project “Między niebem a ziemią – 60 lat sztuki ludowej w twórczości Jana Giejsona z Barda” [Between Heaven and Earth – 60 years of folk art in the work of Jan Giejson from Bardo] was prepared.
The exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum in Wrocław provides an opportunity to present the latest sculptures created by the artist as part of this project, as well as exhibits from the Museum’s collection of his works, along with the actual process of reconstructing the collection following its depletion by the flood. Thus the title of this exhibition – “Od nowa” [Anew] – on the one hand refers to the process of returning the collection to its original state, and on the other to the actual act of creation during which an artist every time faces anew the realisation of a piece of art.
Among the works on display are presentations of themes typical of Jan Giejson’s oeuvre – sculptures of biblical scenes, figures of the Saints, scenes from everyday life and those connected with local history, in particular Our Lady of Bardo, St John Nepomucene and Christ in Sorrow, in many creative adaptations and versions, also in the form of roadside shrines, reliefs and crucifixes.
The artist was awarded the 2025 Scholarship by the Dolnośląskie Voivodeship
