(En) plein air… In search of the ‘Barbizon heritage’ at the interface between the industrial metallurgical space and art from Dąbrowa (Górnicza) of the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

Nearly two centuries ago, an art colony called École de Barbizon was established near Paris. The article discusses the works of art that were created in the area of today’s Dąbrowa Górnicza in connection with two large steelworks complexes (the Bankowa Steelworks from the mid-19th century and the Katowice Steelworks from the 1970s). The works of artists, created with metallurgical inspiration, were placed outdoors – in the open air, such as the bust of Engineer François Felix Verdié from the 19th century by the world-famous French sculptor – and in the interiors of the factory buildings. Interesting plein-air artists’ groupings under the banner of the ‘Industrial Landscape of Friendship’ took place on the site of the Katowice Steelworks under construction. They were attended by twentieth-century ‘Barbizonians’, i.e. artists affiliated to ZPAP (Association of Polish Artists and Designers), usually from the Katowice branch, the Sosnowiec district, and members of the Zagłębie Group. In 2023, ArcelorMittal Poland invited young people from the Tadeusz Kantor High School of Fine Arts in Dąbrowa to its plant for a plein-air painting workshop. The works were shown in exhibitions, with one particularly notable example being the exhibition dedicated to the Katowice Steelworks, arranged based on a book titled The Body of the Steelworks by Dąbrowa resident Anna Cieplak. The award-winning writer and cultural animator was involved in the whole exhibition-art project Artists and Alchemists. Steelworks in the Making (1972–2023).