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

Sculptures by Gdańsk artists have become a permanent part of the landscape of Oliwa Park. To mark the gallery's 50th anniversary, the Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku has opened an exhibition on its history, is hosting an open-air birthday celebration, and invites residents of Gdańsk to co-create a digital social archive of photos and stories featuring the sculptures in the background.

The Gallery of Contemporary Gdańsk Sculpture was established in 1976 thanks to cooperation between the Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku and the Gdańsk district of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, support from the Ministry of Culture and the Gdańsk City Hall, and assistance from the then Municipal Enterprise for the Construction and Maintenance of Green Areas, now the Gdańsk Greenery Board. This year the same team invites everyone to celebrate 50 years of the open-air gallery.

– The creation of the gallery in Oliwa Park was linked to the growing popularity of presenting sculpture in public space. This trend was present worldwide in postwar art, and in Poland its greatest popularity can be seen in the 1960s and 1970s – says Joanna Szymula-Grygiel, curator from the Department of Modern Art of the Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku.

The Oliwa sculptures were created by well-known artists associated with the Pomeranian coast and the Gdańsk art academy, who had complete freedom in choosing subjects, materials and forms. Hence the diversity of the gallery, which still surprises today: one can find inspirations ranging from realistic depictions to abstract art. References to mythology, the Bible and historical events are not rare. Sculptors worked in bronze, stone (granite and sandstone), plastic and ceramic stoneware. They also chose the locations for their works themselves. The modern form of the objects gave a new character to the historic Oliwa Park, founded and shaped by the Cistercian monks residing in Oliwa.

Among the creators of the gallery are many esteemed figures from different generations of the Gdańsk art community, including 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.

– Years of exposure to various weather conditions meant that the sculptures required conservation over time, and in a few cases also relocation. Two were destroyed. Sixteen remain today. Thanks to a grant from the City of Gdańsk in 2020, after two years of conservation and revitalisation work, the objects regained their lustre and were re-labelled. However, keeping the exhibits in good condition is an ongoing process carried out by the Museum on a continuous basis, as far as possible and within available resources – says Joanna Szymula-Grygiel.

On Thursday 28 May, the exhibition “Sculptures Among Greenery. 50 Years of the Gallery in Park Oliwski” will open at Pałac Opatów, presenting important and interesting threads from the gallery's history. It will include archival documents and photographs, sketches and models, as well as other sculptural works by the artists of the open-air gallery from the collection of the Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku. On 25 July, an open-air celebration of the gallery's 50th anniversary in Park Oliwski is planned, with a rich programme of workshops, meetings and walks combined with guided tours.

In April the digital social archive was also launched, where the Museum is collecting photos and stories about situations in which the sculptures were present. These may be memories of walks, meetings, first dates, childhood, growing up, and daily routes through the park. How do the sculptures fit into life? Have they become landmarks, meeting places, elements of memory? To take part in the project, submit up to three photos with short descriptions by 31 July. You can also drop in during office hours at NOMUS – Nowego Muzeum Sztuki, ul. Jaracza 14, where…