Zachęta National Gallery of Art

Before 1860 there were neither public museums nor libraries nor other generally accessible institutions that allowed for exchange between artists. The repression that resulted from the November Uprising, made higher artistic education virtually impossible. The last major exhibition took place in 1845. After protests by artists during the 1850s, the Wystawa Krajowa Sztuk Pięknych (National Exhibition of Fine Arts) was approved in 1858, and lead to negotiations with Russian rulers who in the end permitted the foundation of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in 1860. The Society's statutes were set by artists and art experts. The first official meeting and the election of a board of directors took place on 13 December 1860. The board had twelve members, six artists and six art experts, and was elected annually. The members remained in office for at least one month but no longer than one year.

The primary aim of the Society was the dissemination of fine arts as well as support and encouragement of artists. Furthermore, its intention was to create general awareness of art among the Polish society. In 1860 the Society had 234 official registered members. Only one year later the number had increased to 1464.

Initially, all artworks were on display until they were sold. Soon enough that lead to crowded walls and a monotonous permanent exhibition. After fundamental changes made between 1900 and 1939, the permanent exhibition was shown only in addition to temporarily changing exhibitions.

The Society hosted annual salons, funded scholarships and offered other aid to young artists, both members and candidates.

Architectural details of the building

Zachęta Gallery, front view

Zachęta - main hall and staircase

First tenders for the design of a new building were put out in 1862. However, due to a lack of financial resources the plans were not realized. After the Society was given land by the municipality, another competition was announced in 1894, won by the Warsaw architect, Stefan Szyller. He presented an architectural design in neo-Renaissance style with classical elements. The portal is ornamented with allegorical figures and sculptural works by Zygmunt Otto. The architrave of the building is engraved with the Latin word Artibus.

Construction work began in 1898. In December 1900, the front building was officially opened followed by the opening of the south wing in 1903.[1] Both the opening and extension of the building were exceptionally well reviewed. Szyller's plans originally included the construction of two more wings which could not be implemented at that time.

In 1958, the Ministry of Art and Culture decided to reconstruct the building. Surrounding houses had been destroyed during the war and thus, involuntarily, gave way to the extension of the building. The Warsaw architects, Oskar Hansen, Lech Tomaszewski and Stanisław Zamecznikow, were entrusted with the reconstruction, but the planned reconstruction was postponed.

In 1982, the reconstruction plans were taken up again and executed by the Shop for Preservation of Monuments. From 1991 to 1993, the reconstruction was supervised and executed by the company, Dom i Miasto (Home and City). The company was also responsible for the extension of the staircases inside the building, which allowed for direct access to the exhibition halls within the new part of the building. The resulting monumental perspective is emphasized by the Gladiator, a work by the Polish sculptor, Pius Weloński, which remained from the Society's former collection.

The extension of the building created a larger exhibition space, a storage facility for the artwork, an unloading platform and an office wing with a separate entrance. The largest exhibition hall was named after the Polish painter, Jan Matejko. Another room is named after Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of the Second Polish Republic, who was assassinated at Zachęta on 16 December 1922 by Eligiusz Niewiadomski, a Polish painter and critic. To commemorate the president and Wojciech Gerson, one of the founders of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, two plaques were revealed during the gallery's anniversary celebrations in 2000.

Since its official opening in 1900, the Zachęta building has housed several institutions:

• 1900–1939: Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts
• 1939–1945: House of German Culture
• 1945–1989: Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions
• 1989–2003: Zachęta State Gallery of Art
• since 2003: Zachęta National Gallery of Art

The Zachęta building was registered as a historical monument in 1965.

Zachęta looted by the Germans in July, 1944

During the Invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second World War almost all of the buildings surrounding the museum were destroyed while the Zachęta building remained comparatively undamaged. Following the Polish capitulation, German units occupied the building and converted it into the Haus der Deutschen Kultur (House of German Culture) which was mainly used for propaganda purposes. The Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts was dissolved. The artwork, as well as other documents belonging to the Society, were largely brought to the Muzeum Narodowe, or confiscated and sent to Germany.[1] The transport took place on open trucks without any proper documentation. During the Warsaw Uprising the Zachęta building was heavily damaged by artillery and bombs and thus needed to be fully renovated at the end of the war. Traces of a flammable substance were found, suggesting that German units planned to set the building on fire before their withdrawal.

After the war, the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts was not reactivated. It was replaced by the Centralne Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych (Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions) which was founded in 1949 by the Ministry for Art and Culture at the request of the Association for Fine Arts, Poland.[1] In 1951, the bureau began to host exhibitions. The first director (1949–1954) was Armand Vetulani.

The central bureau was responsible for the organisation of art exhibitions, and all other artistic activity, throughout the entire country. Branch offices were opened in Kraków, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Zakopane, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Wrocław, Olsztyn and Opole. Eventually, the Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions became the most important institution in the area of cultural policy.

The 1980s were characterized by radical political changes related to the declaration of martial law, leading to a boycott of all official galleries. In fact, the central bureau never really recovered from these drastic failures.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Iron Curtain changed political circumstances fundamentally, and also affected the structure of the central bureau. Barbara Majewska, the director of the bureau, moved the bureau away from its former old and centralistic structures, andon May 30, 1994, the Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions was closed and turned into the Zachęta State Gallery.

In 2003, the Polish minister of culture, Waldemar Dąbrowski, renamed the gallery Narodowa Galeria Sztuki (National Gallery of Art).

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  Paweł Althamer A Boat and a Space Suit
• 
  Rafał Bujnowski Matka Whistlera
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  Zbigniew Dłubak Teaching Board I /1-4/
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  Marlene Dumas Narutowicz. The President
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  Tadeusz Kantor Umbrella and Woman
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  Goshka Macuga The Dog (Pies)
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  Jerzy Nowosielski City at the Foot of the Mountains (Landscape)
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  Aneta Grzeszykowska "YMCA"