Pipeline-Mościce

In 1924, Rafał Malczewski debuted as a painter in the Salon of Czesław Garliński in Warsaw with a joint exhibition with Witkacy. In 1929 he published a collection of novellas entitled Narkotyk gór [The Narcotic of the Mountains]. In 1932, the film Biały ślad [The White Trace] (for which Rafał Malczewski wrote the screenplay) was presented at the 1st International Film Festival in Venice, accompanying the 18th Art Biennale. In 1934 he spent several months in Silesia and the Beskids, where he painted industrial landscapes. In 1938, he created the cycle Reportaże malarskie z COP-u [Painting reports from the Central Industrial District (COP)]. The painting Rurociąg-Mościce [The Pipeline-Mościce] comes from a series of works devoted to the Central Industrial District, which was initiated in July 1938 as part of a four-year investment plan and a six-year plan to expand the Armed Forces. It was an essential theme for the country as it showcased industrialisation and the associated scientific and technical progress. It was a theme that fitted in with the propaganda narrative of the authorities. The government commissioned Rafał Malczewski to travel to the area of the Central Industrial District (COD), during which he created a series of paintings called Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy– reportaż malarski [The Central Industrial District – Painting Reportage). It was unique in the art of the time and included over forty works in oil and watercolour (only about a dozen of the entire series have survived to the present day).

Beata Małgorzata Wolska