Sculptures Amidst Greenery. 50 Years of the Gallery in Oliwski Park

Sculptures by Gdańsk artists have become a permanent feature of the Oliwski Park landscape. To celebrate the gallery's 50th anniversary, the National Museum in Gdańsk has opened an exhibition dedicated to its history, is organizing an open-air birthday celebration, and invites Gdańsk residents to co-create a digital social archive with photos and stories featuring the sculptures.

The Gallery of Contemporary Gdańsk Sculpture was established in 1976 thanks to the cooperation between the National Museum in Gdańsk and the Gdańsk district of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, with support from the Ministry of Culture and the Gdańsk City Office, and assistance from the then Municipal Enterprise for the Construction and Maintenance of Green Areas, now the Gdańsk Greenery Board. This year, the same group invites you to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the open-air gallery.

– The creation of the gallery in Oliwski Park was linked to the growing popularity of the idea of presenting sculpture in public spaces. This trend was present worldwide in post-war art, and in Poland, its greatest popularity was seen in the 1960s and 1970s – says Joanna Szymula-Grygiel, curator from the Department of Modern Art at the National Museum in Gdańsk.

The Oliwski sculptures were created by renowned artists associated with the Coast and the Gdańsk art academy, who had complete freedom in choosing themes, materials, and forms. Hence the diversity of the gallery, which still surprises today – one can find inspirations from both realistic representations and abstract art. References to mythology, the Bible, or historical events are not uncommon. Sculptors created works in bronze, stone (granite and sandstone), plastic, and ceramic stoneware. They also chose the locations for their sculptures themselves. The modern form of the objects gave a new character to the historic Oliwski Park, established and shaped by the Cistercians residing in Oliwa.

Among the creators of the gallery, many esteemed individuals from various generations of the Gdańsk art scene can be found, such as: Czesław Ciesielski, Romuald Frejer, Stanisław Horno-Popławski, Zygmunt Kępski, Stanisław Konieczny, Zygfryd Korpalski, Zdzisław Koseda, Irena Loroch, Henryk Lula, Sławoj Ostrowski, Wiesław Pietroń, Anna Pietrowiec, Adam Smolana, Janina Stefanowicz-Schmidt, Alfred Wiśniewski, Marian Wnuk, Irena Zabrocka, Zbigniew Zabrocki, Albert Zalewski and Swetłana Zerling.