I came back from a quick trip to Warsaw a couple of weeks ago – we were still sorting my mother in law’s flat , but we had some time and my husband had this brilliant idea to go to Konstancin and see a small private gallery which was apparently full of Art Deco works. We had just missed their major exhibition of Tamara Lempicka’s art – the story of my life, missing exhibitions,

The photos below are of some sulptures that I particularly liked.

The words in Italics below are translated from their website.

THE PARIS SCHOOL
The term École de Paris (Paris School) was first used in 1925 by the French critic André Warnod. Without referring to a specific movement or school of painting, he was describing the phenomenon of an influx of artists – foreigners settling in Montparnasse even before the First World War. Among those arriving in Paris from Central and Eastern Europe, the majority were painters and sculptors of Jewish origin. Montparnasse, the 14th district of Paris, was also home to artists who came from Spain (Picasso), Italy (Modigliani), Japan (Foujita), Mexico (Rivera), Great Britain or the United States, among others. This colourful artistic mixture managed to accommodate the most interesting tendencies and achievements of painting in the first half of the 20th century, i.e. cubism, fauvism, expressionism and post-impressionism. This mosaic is also complemented by the emerging Art Déco style in the middle of the golden decade of the 1920s.

Many artists shared studios and flats among themselves. Small art communes were created, such as La cité Falguière or the famous Hive (La Ruche), where Chagall, Modigliani Soutine, Zadkine, Pascin, Epstein and many others lived. Artists met and discussed art in numerous cafés, the most famous of which were Le Dôme, La Closerie des Lilas, La Rotonde, Le Select or La Coupole.

Among the newcomers, a large number were graduates of Polish art academies, for whom Paris had become a small homeland. They were not only witnesses to the era, but active participants in it. Their conquests of Paris began in the shadow of Polish artists of an earlier generation, to mention Józef Pankiewicz or Władysław Ślewiński. The history of the greatness of Montparnasse is, among other things, the story of meetings between legendary personalities such as Moses Kisling and Leopold Zborowski.