70 publications.

After the First World War, Poland regained territorial and political independence. The ideas of universalism and cosmopolitanism fostered by the avant-garde took on a special dimension in a land severely divided from an ethnic and linguistic point of view. The pinnacle of avant-garde fervour came about in the Interwar period and was led by different groups, which, even though they had their differences, had the joint mission of modernising the country’s culture.

The Polish avant-garde was characterised by its ability to assimilate influence from the avant-garde in neighbouring countries: Soviet constructivism, Italian Futurism, the German Bauhaus school and the various isms of Paris. Even though it was aligned with and indebted to them, the Polish avant-garde was synonymous with rich editorial production of books and magazines with its own inherent characteristics. Short-lived magazines such as Blok and Praesens, for example, were of the utmost importance for the European aesthetic consciousness thanks to their dynamic design and layout and detailed typography, as well as their determination to reach out towards other disciplines, such as poetry.

The Archivo Lafuente collection brings together dozens of books and magazines that are key to understanding the context of the Polish avant-garde in the Interwar period. The collection spans the period from 1920 to the First World War and boasts a complete collection of magazines, such as Blok, Praesens and Linja, as well as the editorial work of artists of such importance as Wladislaw Strzeminski, Henry Stazewsky and Tadeus Peiper, and the poets Jalu Kurek and Julia Przybos, among others.