The exhibition "Theatrum of Jerzy Nowosielski" at the State Art Gallery in Sopot is an attempt at a new look at the work of the 20th century classic, Jerzy Nowosielski. This time we look at his connections with the broadly understood theater.

On the one hand, we will see Nowosielski, a set designer, who designs decorations for puppet theaters, and on the other, Nowosielski, a painter, revealing his own theater, rich in motifs and threads, taking place in his paintings.

At the exhibition we will see, among others reconstruction of the show "Krzesiwo" by Hanna Januszewska based on a fairy tale by Jan Christian Andersen for the Puppet Theater "Pinokio" in Łódź (1958), created by a team of employees of the "Groteska" Theater in Krakow for the exhibition "Jerzy Nowosielski. Puppet theater. Notes - part five ”at the Starmach Gallery in 2015.

For the first time, it will also be possible to visit Jerzy Nowosielski's studio, which was once located in his house at ul. Narzymski in Krakow. We will see furniture, objects and paintings painted by the artist.

The exhibition, in some part arranged as large collages, will give the opportunity to see again many of the artist's canvases, which he painted between 1954 and 1996.

Jerzy Nowosielski, commenting on his play, said about the theater: “I have no theater ideal. Theater is a living human experience. You can dare it, or you can run away from it. On the other hand, any theoretical speculation on this subject is simply powerless not to say that it is out of place.

I only know one thing, that in my consciousness theater, just like painting and music, belongs in human experience to the domain of the sacred. And if it is so, for me theater is a circus on one of its poles, and a liturgy on the other. At the same time, as a man almost obsessively dealing with liturgical issues, I consider Christian liturgy both as a transformation of ancient theater and as a form of circus. After all, the liturgy is a kind of a holy circus ”.

All paintings, furniture and items on display come from the Teresa and Andrzej Starmach collections.

Curator: Andrzej Szczepaniak

The exhibition is accompanied by the catalog "Theatrum Jerzy Nowosielski" designed by Ryszard Bienert. The catalog, in the album part, contains extensive photographic material of all the works shown at the exhibition, as well as archival photographs.