Problem badań nad historią „sztuki żydowskiej” w komunistycznej Polsce – przypadek Józefa Sandla
The Study of History of “Jewish Art” in Communist Poland – the Case of Józef Sandel

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the research activity of Józef Sandel (1894-1962), a historian of the art of Polish Jews, who studied that art over the first dozen or so years after World War II and analysed it from the point of view of its ideological message. While focusing on the life of Polish artists of Jewish origin (and Jewish artists in general, who were connected to Polish lands), he first of all tried to emphasize the Jewish contribution to the history of Polish art. Looking at it in perspective, with the Holocaust over, he proceeded from the assumption that the art of Polish Jews can be viewed as a historical phenomenon in its own right, for which the watershed was the Holocaust, affecting both the artists and the works created by the generations which preceded it. In this particular instance, the goal of research activity in the field of history of art was to spread the word about (what he considered as) the immortal legacy, which should be interesting to the Jews themselves and the Poles alike. With regard to the former, what he wanted in the first place was to ensure that artistic creation be recognized as an integral element of the culture of the Jewish people. This was to be served by a peculiar interpretation of that culture, emphasizing the close bond between form and content, which were supposed to constitute jointly an articulation of Jewishness (an ethnicity which traditionally also denoted social condition). At the same time, with regard to both the former and the latter, what Sandel sought was the appreciation of the art of Polish Jews in socialist Poland. He wanted to achieve it by pointing to its leftist nature and consequently its contribution to the promotion of the “progressive” ideology in the culture of Polish lands.

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