Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
Art History
Advisor
Romy Golan
Committee Members
Emily Braun
Elidor Mëhilli
Magdalena Moskalewicz
Subject Categories
European History | History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology | Modern Art and Architecture
Keywords
Socialist Realism, Stalinism, Poland, exhibitions, museums
Abstract
This dissertation examines the evolution of state-sponsored exhibitions of art and visual culture in Stalinist Poland (1945–1956) as instruments of political pedagogy and statecraft. It analyzes how exhibitions functioned not only as displays of artistic achievement but also as mechanisms for translating state policy into visual form, directing how audiences viewed and interpreted works, and modeling the values and behaviors expected in a socialist society. Focusing on Warsaw—the capital and administrative center of postwar cultural policy—the study situates the National Museum and, from 1951, the Central Bureau of Art Exhibitions (CBWA) at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art as central institutions in building a coordinated national exhibition system. Concentrating on painting, sculpture, and graphic arts, it examines a deliberately broad range of formats—from major juried art shows to touring and mobile displays, foreign propaganda exhibitions, and public artworks. These projects are considered in relation to recurring themes of early communist propaganda, often tied to Soviet-inspired political and economic programs: postwar physical reconstruction, Marxist-Leninist education and literacy campaigns, and industrial development initiatives such as the Three-Year Plan (1947–1950) and the Six-Year Plan (1950–1955).
I argue that state-sponsored exhibitions in Stalinist Poland mediated two visions: an idealized, largely unrealized projection of socialist transformation, and the economic and political constraints of a war-torn country under consolidating totalitarian rule. A central concern of this study is the codification and display of Socialist Realism—a Soviet cultural doctrine requiring naturalistic form and socialist content imposed in Poland in 1949. Rather than a coherent aesthetic program, Socialist Realism is treated here as the most concentrated expression of a broader visual-pedagogical project aimed at affirming state authority, giving political doctrine tangible form, and shaping viewing habits. The dissertation traces three phases: (1) 1945–1948, when early and thematically diverse exhibitions of art and visual culture commemorated wartime destruction and promoted socialist reconstruction as a national duty; (2) 1949–1952, when contemporary Socialist Realist art was provisionally codified and enforced in Poland through centralized exhibition planning; and (3) 1953–1954, when public disengagement, stylistic repetition, and shifting official rhetoric exposed the limits of exhibitions in sustaining the cultural consensus the Polish totalitarian state sought to project. The concluding discussion of 1955–1956 examines how this state-directed exhibition model persisted in modified form, influencing the transition from Socialist Realism to the more pluralist tendencies of the post- Stalin era.
Recommended Citation
Tomaszewski, Patryk P., "Socialism on Display: State-Sponsored Exhibitions of Art and Visual Culture in Stalinist Poland, 1945–1956" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6504
