Painting exhibition

An Exhibition of non professional paintings from the Silesian Museum's collection:  MARKED BY COAL - SILESIAN ARTISTS OF THE MINING DESCENT

The exhibition presents the works of the natural born artists from the Upper Silesia region. This plebeian trend of the Silesian art was considered to be unique in the world. It can be proved by numerous exhibitions and shows, scientific dissertations and popular and album type publications, devoted to the Silesian naive and non-professional artists.

Looking from the perspective of the last 60 years we can see, that the original talents and interesting personalities representing this type of art are also present among the miners' society.

The main goal of the exhibition is to present to the delegates of the 21st World Mining Congress this type of art and to familiarise the majority of the visitors with this unique artistic and cultural phenomenon, associated directly with coal mining in the Upper Silesia region and embedded in the culture of this region.

Equally important is to recognise the role of the region - with its landscape, traditions, beliefs and people - in inspiring the artistic talents of the labourers - mainly miners. The exhibition allows us to draw a conclusion that this region built their identity, and what is also worth noting, that it was their home, it became their small homeland and the centre of their universe; those who had to leave the region yearn for it and mythologize it.  

In case of many representatives of this trend in the art, we can safely say that they inspired by the "spirit of the land" (genius loci, the location's distinctive atmosphere, or a "spirit of place"). This expression became popular in Europe in the Romantic era and was associated with the development of the various national identities. Many of the authors of the works shown at the exhibition subscribe to this trend in art and their works can surely be called the masterpieces of small homelands. The industrial region of the Upper Silesia is a place to which they are connected. They were born and raised here and it shaped them. They became the part of the region. This region is the value allowing them to answer the question of "who am I"?