Znajomość rysunków Artura Grottgera w Królestwie Polskim przed rokiem 1905 w warunkach cenzury – na podstawie prasy i albumów
Familiarity with Artur Grottger’s drawings in the Kingdom of Poland in the conditions of pre-1905 censorship (based on the press and album editions)

Author(s): Sayaka Kaji
Subject(s): Cultural history, 19th Century, History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Artur Grottger; censorship; Kingdom of Poland; memory of January Uprising
Summary/Abstract: This article examines how Artur Grottger’s works, which were related, or suspected of being connected, with the January Uprising, were widespread and visually known in the Kingdom of Poland under censorship imposed by the Russian Empire. The scope of consideration is limited to the status of his works related to the Uprising published in the Kingdom of Poland (such as those published in magazines and albums) as well as attempted legal imports of Grottger’s works into the Kingdom, and to the time until the 1905 Revolution, when the censorship system was temporarily changed. Grottger’s works were well known in the Kingdom of Poland, but this concerns mainly his non-political works. Of the four series directly related to the Uprising, only illustrations of the 'Lituania' series were published a few times in magazines with their titles hidden. Other patriotic illustrations appeared very rarely. His most-published and best-known work was the 'War' series, which passed the censorship on the pretense that it depicted war as a universal human folly. Usually, the connection between Grottger and his works and the Uprising was not mentioned, and when it was, it was only expressed in a cryptic way due to censorship, so it was not well understood by the general public unless they had the knowledge of art or the opportunity to travel to the Austrian territory. It was only after the 1905 Revolution that Grottger and the January Uprising were publicly linked in the Kingdom of Poland.

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