Reinventing historic styles: the perception of traditionalist artistic trends in Central and Eastern Europe of the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

Traditionalism and its diversified framings constitute the focus of my essay, which refers to an international conference convened under the joint auspices of the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University in September 2006. Owing to the collaborative effort of the two organizational bodies, the venue of the two-day symposium titled Reinterpreting the Past: Traditionalist Artistic Trends in Central and Eastern Europe of the 1920s and 1930s was shared between Warsaw and Cracow. The gathering of invited speakers comprised both distinguished scholars and young researchers from Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine1, who willingly modified their tight professional schedules in order to profoundly contribute to what I would venture to call a pioneering debate devoted to the traditionalist current evolving in East-Central Europe between the two World Wars. It seemed of key importance to create a platform for exchanging scholarly findings, experiences and commentaries with regard to the interwar rebirth of traditionalist norms and values in the individual countries.