Földvári Books

Prominent Polish Avant-Garde Periodical

Hiller, Karol (ed.)

Forma. 4. Czasopismo Związku Zawodowego Polskich Artystów Plastyków w Łodzi. [Forma. 4. Czasopismo Zwiazku Zawodowego Polskich Artystow Plastykow w Lodzi.]

Łódź: [Zwiazek Zawodowy Polskich Plastikow w Lodzi.] Związek Zawodowy Polskich Plastików w Łódzi. 1936. Illustrated with 24 black-and-white reproductions. 18 p. Cover page artistically restored. Minor traces of creasing throughout. Overall in fine condition.

FORMA was a journal issued by the Association of Visual Artists and the Union of Polish Artists, both in Łódż, and edited by Karol Hiller for the first four issues from 1932 to 1936; it was edited by Wegner with Strzemiński for the next three issues (the last, number 7, was destroyed by the Germans before it was released). Hiller designed the journal and this layout persisted through the remaining issues after he left. The journal had limited distribution but held a prominent place in the dialogues of contemporary art in Poland, especially regarding the debate in constructivism with Strzemiński and Hiller, with the issues of a pure orthodoxy vs a looser heterodoxy and the lines which were promoted or discouraged with the chief protagonists of Łódż (Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro, the associates of a.r., and Karol Hiller). Hiller (1891-1939) is renowned as a painter, printmaker, photographer and art critic, a representative of constructivist trend in the 20s and biomorphic abstraction in the 30s, the creator of heliographics. He is recognized as one of the major artists of 20th century Poland. This publication, both during Hiller’s tenure and beyond, is a treasure trove of theories, polemics and the exchange of the working artists in the supportive environment found in interwar Łódż for the visual avant-garde. The contributors embraced and promulgated an international perspective while adhering to a very individual expression. Extremely uncommon, copies are located in but one library in Poland and otherwise absent worldwide.

This issue contains reproduction of the works by the chief artists of Polish and international avant-garde like Boccioni, Theo van Doesburg, Władysław Strzemiński, Katarzyna Kobro, Henoch Barczyński, Józef Kowner, Boleslaw Hochlinger and Aniela Menkesowa, and articles written by Strzemiński, Stefan Wegner and Kobro.

Literature: Karol Hiller, 1891–1938. Łódż: Muzeum Sztuki, 2002, pp. 31–41.

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Price: €4,000.00