1 June – 12 September 2021
Curated by: Małgorzata Możdżyńska-Nawotka
in collaboration with Marek Pierzchała
Clothing is featured in all genres and traditions of figural painting, sometimes occupying more than half of the picture’s plane. And yet, rarely do we ponder on the contribution of dress to painting – and it is twofold.
On the one hand, dress contributes shapes, colors, and textures, influencing the picture’s form and expression. On the other, it harbors multifarious meanings: social, psychological, religious, erotic. Dress communicates are influenced by technology, political situation, status and social roles, intercultural exchange.
Our exhibition is an invitation to peruse „The Gallery of Fashion”, with each room dedicated to a single color or family of colors. The chromatic key allows for unexpected encounters of paintings, sculptures, garments and accessories from different periods, from the Middle Ages to the present, revealing both the processes of long duration and the volatility of fashion spurred by multiple and diverse factors.
The far-reaching and to an extent unpredictable ripples generated by the Covid pandemic also concern our behavior and choices concerning dress and fashion and generally the management of our appearance. They have already affected and will probably continue to change the foundations of the fashion industry. The exhibition encourages reflection on various mechanisms at play in this area – historically and currently.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a book by its curator, costume historian Małgorzata Możdżyńska-Nawotka. Entitled Pozór kostiumu (“The Appearance of Costume”), the lavishly illustrated study reconstructs the visual culture of fashion in Poland from the 18th to the early 20th c.
■ Preparations for the exhibition (in Polish) ➸