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Paper short abstract

The paper examines how Feliks “Manggha” Jasieński used exhibitions, his public apartment museum, workshops, and press publications on Japanese art to educate Polish society, including women, fostering an emerging Polish national style.

Paper long abstract

Feliks "Manggha" Jasieński (1861–1929) stands as a pioneering figure in promoting knowledge of Japanese art and culture in Poland. As a noted art critic and collector based in Warsaw and Kraków, Jasieński developed innovative methods for disseminating cultural knowledge, including maintaining a private museum in his apartment that was open to the public, involvement in artistic workshops and multiple articles in Polish press. His activities constituted a distinctive form of cultural policy aimed at educating and inspiring society toward self-development and creative advancement towards Polish national style. What’s innovative, his actions were also aimed directly at women.

Jasieński's background, which included journeys to Berlin and Paris, equipped him with the knowledge and networks necessary to become a prominent collector and art critic. From the early 20th century onward, he published regularly in major Polish periodicals such as Chimera, Głos Narodu, and Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny, while simultaneously curating exhibitions across Warsaw, Kraków, Lviv, and Kiev and he also supported the Krakow Workshops, in which female folk artists from the Krakow area were involved.

What makes Jasieński's work particularly significant from a 21st-century perspective is how he presented Japanese aesthetics and methodologies as inherently valuable models for Polish artistic and cultural development. His way of drawing inspiration from Japanese art to inspire Polish artists and craftsmen seems surprisingly actual also today. In an era of globalization, his pioneering efforts to contextualize and celebrate non-European artistic traditions demonstrate prescient thinking about cultural exchange and intercultural learning.

This paper presents a few specific examples of Jasieński's activities to illustrate the instrumental role his Japanese art collection, played in inspiring artists, craftsmen, and educators within Polish society. By reexamining his legacy through contemporary lenses, the study offers valuable insights into how individual collectors and critics can function as agents of cultural policy and cross-cultural understanding.