LAND OF THE
WINGED HORSEMAN
ART IN POLAND 1572-1764

 

 

The exhibition tour schedule :

March 2 - May 9, 1999
The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD

June 5 - September 6, 1999
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

September 25 - November 28, 1999
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL

December 18, 1999 - February 27, 2000
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego CA

March 25 - June 18, 2000
The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK

The summer of 2000
The Royal Castle, Warsaw, Poland

 


Johann Heinrich Kohler, Germany
Crown of the Coronation of Augustus III, 1733
Silver-gilt, imitation gems,
National Museum, Warsaw

 

The Winged Horsemen in Chicago

The drama, splendor, and pageantry of Baroque Poland come alive in the landmark exhibition Land of the Winged Horseman: Art in Poland 1572- 1764 on view at The Art Institute of Chicago June 5 - September 6, 1999. This display of Polish national treasures - nearly 150 works of fine and decorative art - has been selected from 34 public collections throughout Poland. Objects of grandeur and exoticism, they evoke a golden age when Poland, united in a Commonwealth with Lithuania and situated on Europe's eastern frontier, was the largest nation in Europe. This position at the crossroads of East and West, Europe and Asia, produced a culture of amazing diversity - encompassing Slavs, Russians, Armenians, Jews and Tartars.


Attributed to Tomasz Dolabella, Poland
Stanislaw Teczynski, c. 1630,
Oil on canvas,
Wawel Royal Castle, Cracow


Winged Hussar Armour with a Leopard Skin,
2nd half 17th century
Steel, brass, leather, wood, velvet, leopard skin,
Lent by Princes Czartoryski Museum, Cracow.

Land of the Winged Horseman is the first comprehensive exhibition of Polish art from this crucial period to circulate in the United States and features many works never before exhibited outside of Poland. Among the highlights are a crown and a throne of Polish kings; historic paintings of Polish royalty and nobility; religious images and liturgical objects; exotic rugs and textiles; decorative glassware and porcelains; a richly decorated saddle and other equestrian trappings; a Turkish tent of a type captured at the Battle of Vienna, 1683; and Hussar armor, complete with feathers and leopard skins. The exhibition takes its title from the distinctive armor of the Husaria - a renowned Polish heavy cavalry regiment whose feathered "wings" produced a fearsome rushing sound as the horseman rode into battle.

 

Based on Exhibition's Leaflet
Performed by: Marcin Micha³ Wiszowaty
Last update: September 12, 1999.

BACK