At the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, works by Henryk Lula are on display. The exhibition consists of more than a hundred ceramic objects that the artist created over 50 years. The exhibition “Henryk Lula. Ceramics. Art of Matter – a cross-sectional exhibition at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art’ will be open until 19 May.
A wide selection of the artist’s works has been gathered at Zachęta. By exploring a whole cross-section of different objects, we can learn how Henryk Lula’s creative process has evolved over the years. The artist became active from the 1950s onwards. The exhibition includes more than one hundred ceramic objects, such as platters, shells or vases. In addition, copies of reconstructed tiles of the Renaissance Great Furnace from the Artus Court are presented. They were finally commissioned by Henryk Lula in 1992, and the reconstruction itself was completed in 1995, when this unique monument was unveiled recreated in its historical shape.
The performance of the ceramic is influenced by the very process of its creation. The ceramist does not see the results of his work with every touch of his hand like a painter or sculptor. The shaping of the form is only part of the creative process. The remaining part takes place mainly in the imagination and consists in finding the right interaction between glaze and form, i.e. matter,” writes Henryk Lula (Ceramics – material, art, in: Henryk Lula. The Art of Ceramics, catalogue of exhibitions, Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia, Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Gdańsk 2019, p. 108).
The exhibition is accompanied by an educational and public programme aimed at adults, children and young people. Henryk Lula was born in 1930. Between 1950 and 1956, he studied at the Department of Sculpture at the Gdansk State Academy of Fine Arts. After his studies, for several years he participated in the restoration of sculptural and ceramic decorations of the Gdansk Old Town, which was ruined during the war.
In 1992, he was commissioned to make a copy of the damaged and lost tiles decorating the Renaissance cooker in Artus Court. An important architectural realisation by this author is the monumental ceramic relief at the Ministry of Justice holiday home in Lisi Jar near Jastrzębia Góra. Between 1977 and 1997, he was head of the Ceramics Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He has been involved in ceramics since his graduation until today.
curator of the exhibition: Dr Katarzyna Jóźwiak-Moskal
Henryk Lula (b. 1930) – studied at the Faculty of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk in the years 1950-1956. After his studies, for several years he participated in the restoration of sculptural and ceramic monuments of the Gdansk Main Town. In 1992, he was commissioned to make copies of destroyed and lost tiles for a renaissance cooker in the Artus Court. Among the author’s larger works is a ceramic bas-relief at the Ministry of Justice holiday home in Lisi Jar near Jastrzębia Góra. Between 1977 and 1997, he was head of the Ceramics Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.
source: Zacheta – National Gallery of Art
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