Zapomniani twórcy. Stan badań nad polską sztuką witrażową (2 połowy wieku XIX i 1 połowy XX)
Forgotten artists. Status of research on Polish stained glass (from the second half of the 19th century until 1945)

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary Polish stained glass art is a field still little known and underestimated. A breakthrough in research was made by Jerzy Frycz, who in 1974 published a pioneering paper which, against the background of stained glass revival in Europe, presented the history of stained glass art in the Polish territories in the 19th and 20th centuries, and outlined the activity of several workshops. In subsequent years, inventory work was undertaken, first including stained glass windows in secular buildings in Łódź and Kraków. The full inventory of stained glass from the period in question has not been completed until today, which limits general analyses. This is all the more painful that the resources of stained glass decrease year after year. Research is being conducted in several centres, the most important of which is Kraków. The studies are undertaken by both academic institutions and individual researchers. Since 1999, the Association for Stained Glass Art “Ars Vitrea Polona” has been contributing to the development of research on Polish stained glass art, mainly by organizing periodic conferences. What still remains insufficiently clarified are the issues concerning the revival of stained glass art in Poland and the role of stained glass in sacred and secular interiors. Few works of art have their extensive studies. The biographical entries and other works on artists who are known to have designed stained glass windows usually contain only brief or no information about this area of their activity. No stained glass factory has a full monograph, although much is already known about their achievements. There is also no Polish dictionary of terminology. This poor state of research does not fully reflect the resources and the artistic level of modern Polish stained glass, and the results are not taken full advantage of in studies dealing with issues of art and crafts of this period.

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