Pink Magic. About Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska

About the event

On July 9 at 6:00 PM, we invite you to the opening of the exhibition "Pink Magic. About Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska." The exhibition will run until September 14, 2025. 🎨 Celebrated solemnly this year, thanks to the resolution of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, the 80th anniversary of Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's death was the inspiration for the somewhat provocatively titled exhibition "Pink Magic. About Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska." Although Lilka's contemporaries considered her poems to be distinctly "feminine," ephemeral, and fleeting, and her as a poet of love, boldly expressing herself on matters of emotions and intimacy, vividly sensing the nature surrounding her, which she reflected in her poetic works, her poetry is characterized by a diversity of forms and boldness of expression, surprising metaphors, humor, intelligence, and deep reflection. Tymon Terlecki, in an essay introducing Pawlikowska's "Last Works" published in London in 1956, wrote: "(...) Pawlikowska's wartime creativity seems to be one of the most shocking spectacles given, one of the most moving testimonies provided by Polish literature of our time – and times to come. This poetry, accused of frivolity, closed with the accent of a naked scream; this poetry, accused of empty artistry, ended with the practice of monastic asceticism; this poetry, accused of insensitivity and thoughtlessness, resonated with the will of desperate defiance; this miniature poetry, poetry of fragments, sudden insights, flashes, and illuminations – sounded with the tone of human solidarity, a high idealistic and humanitarian tone." She was born into the Krakow clan of Kossak painters: her grandfather was Juliusz, her father Wojciech, and her older brother Jerzy. Her younger sister Magdalena would later become a well-known humorist under the pseudonym Magdalena Samozwaniec. The family home, called Kossakówka, whose guardian spirit was Mamidło – Maria Kossakowa, was a meeting place for Krakow's intellectual elite: writers, painters, artists. She gained a home education there, an interest in literature, philosophy, and esotericism, knowledge of foreign languages, and extensive social contacts. The carefree atmosphere of growing up in a home where Wojciech fulfilled all his daughters' whims and Mamidło took care of all mundane matters. During this time, the choice of a life path was also weighed: literature or painting. For Lilka was exceptionally talented in this field as well. Her life was marked by a poorly treated childhood arm fracture and its consequences, which ultimately condemned her to wearing a corset hidden under airy fabrics, tulle, and shawls. As well as three marriages. The first, completely unsuccessful, with Austrian captain Władysław Bzowski, concluded in Krakow on September 25, 1915, was annulled by the Church on March 12, 1919, thanks to her father's efforts. In 1916, Lilka met Jan Henryk Pawlikowski, son of Jan Gwalbert, "handsome Jasio," a resident of the Zakopane villa "Pod Jedlami," whom she married on June 2, 1919. However, this marriage, due to Jasio's affair with dancer Valérie Konchinsky, to Lilka's despair, was also unsuccessful. Ultimately, the Supreme Court annulled it on December 23, 1929. Only alongside aviator Stefan Jasnorzewski, nicknamed "Lotek" or "Bajbak," did she find the desired feelings, support, and care. She married him in Poznań on June 19, 1931. Her poetic debut with the 1922 volume "Blue Almonds" permanently placed her among the first generation of literary creators of independent Poland. Like the Skamander poets who adhered to the slogan "Poetry to the streets!", she valued spontaneity, references to everyday life, and accessibility to a wide circle of readers in poetry. She also introduced nature themes into her poems: flowers, trees, animals, the sea, which Prof. Anna Nasiłowska describes in line with our contemporary standards as "ecologism." The themes and mood of her poems changed with the events of autumn 1939: fleeing with her husband Stefan Jasnorzewski through Zaleszczyki, Romania, France to England, where Stefan – an aviator – served in the British Air Force. In her notes, poetic sketches, and poems, Pawlikowska's pacifism, anxiety, and longing for her loved ones left behind in Krakow, reflection on the uncertain future, and the uncertain yet anticipated return to the country are clearly visible. These anxieties and uncertainties are also evidenced by letters addressed to writers in forced exile: Antoni Słonimski and Tymon Terlecki. The last stage of her life was a battle with illness, which brought her surgeries, prolonged hospital stays, suffering, and death. At our exhibition, we present the collection related to Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska gathered in the Museum. It is a rich collection of manuscripts from the 1930s and 1940s, containing personal documents, poems, poetic sketchbooks, notes, including records documenting the difficult time of struggling with her stay in England and illness, extensive correspondence with her husband and family. Noteworthy are drawings and watercolors from the Art Department's collections and a box of playing cards, so-called jokers. In the selection, we present pre-war poetic volumes, some of them dedicated to Maria Pawlikowska's contemporary creators: Maria Dąbrowska, Julian Tuwim, or Karol Zawodziński. The whole is complemented by photographs from the Photographic Documentation Department's collection and several from the National Digital Archive's collections, as well as posters of theatrical performances from the collections of the Institute of Art PAN and the public domain of the National Library Polona. The exhibition is guided by the Poet herself through her selected poems and poetic notes. The exhibition was prepared thanks to funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Curator: Katarzyna Jakimiak