Arrival and Layout
Originally the Tadeusz Kulisiewicz’s studio was located in the artist’s flat at 7/12 Mazowiecka Street, Warsaw (Śródmieście): ‘Visitors reach the upper floor by elevator. The studio occupies a spacious city-centre flat whose arrangement bears the artist’s stamp. A large worktable is meticulously organised. Drawings lie in even stacks on low shelves and on the floor; cupboards and small shelves hold dozens of small curios: marine fossils and folk and Indigenous artworks acquired in Mexico, Cuba and India. Here a small devotional figure of Christ with a broken arm; there a folk woodcut print, a textile wall hanging, dried wreaths and ceremonial vessels. A corner for receiving guests comprises a small daybed, a table and two chairs.’ As Władysław Kościelniak reported in Południowa Wielkopolska, ‘the hosts greet visitors with a token refreshment, always gracious and smiling—especially Basia, the artist’s wife, an indispensable companion in life and work.’
Tadeusz and Basia moved into the flat in 1952. The two-room fifth-floor flat became their home for the rest of their lives. The larger room served as Kulisiewicz’s studio and, simultaneously, as the salon.
Beginnings of a Collector
Folk art was exceptionally close to ‘Kulis’. He avidly collected Góral (highlander) handicrafts, sacred figurines, wooden toys and small baskets. ‘It started early: in 1933, in Szlembark, from which I made forays into the nearby villages of Podhale and Spisz. From Szlembark, across the Dunajec and the Białka, one could see Nowa Biała, which one sunny morning I decided to visit. I returned in the evening with three świątki (folk devotional figures), several old pots and a small roadside shrine with a Madonna,’ he recalled. Little is known about his collection before the Second World War: the Warsaw Uprising destroyed everything in his pre-war flat on Wiejska Street. In grief he vowed to stop collecting, but did not keep the resolution for long: ‘The larger one—a model ship with sails set—I saw in 1945 on Puławska Street in Warsaw, where I was then living. It adorned a stationer’s window and was not for sale. I had to coax the owner for a long time for that coveted treasure to become mine. I scraped the cash together with difficulty.’
Mirabilia and Naturalia
This reconstructed studio brings together mirabilia from travels across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Of particular note is a group of pre-Columbian ceramic figurines brought from Mexico. Objects of religious significance include Havdalah spice boxes (balsaminki), Eastern Orthodox icons, a figure of Śiva/Shiva as Nataraja, and Buddha images, as well as dozens of amulets in the form of jewellery. Alongside artworks, Kulisiewicz assembled a cabinet of naturalia: stones, shells, dried seahorses and starfish, fossils, a swordfish rostrum (bill) and corals. His substantial library—largely foreign-language art albums and monographs—is also represented. Exotic specimens, the treasures of tropical seas and Polish folk culture coexist within a single room. On the table where ‘Kulis’ worked lies the draughtsman’s kit: pencils, nibs, penholders, pens, bottles of ink and tubes of paint. In the artist’s day this trove was often wreathed in cigarette smoke; for both Basia and Tadeusz a cigarette in hand was almost a signature habit. Bouquets of dried flowers arranged by Basia completed the room.
Attentive viewers will also notice everyday items: a box of cigarettes, razor blades used for shaving, handwritten notes and spectacles.
