Obywatel sentymentalny. Janusz Bogucki w „totalnej niemożliwości”

Abstract

Janusz Bogucki (1916-1995) – critic and head of the Warsaw Contemporary Gallery (1965-74), who happened to live and work under political conditions designated by Andrzej Matuszewski as a total impossibility – is well characterised by the word a sentimental citizen. In this context, I am considering some earlier and subsequent episodes in his life. In the Stalinist period, he has criticised sentimentalism as an antithesis of socialist-realist attitude. After the end of Stalinism in 1956, he has ceased to follow the class resentment. Under increasing pressure of communist system, playing a game with regime, Bogucki was shared his sentiment among an emerging consensus with regard to human rights and faith in professionalism of socialist authorities of that time. He had to make such a declaration during surveillance by the Security Services in 1977, disassociating himself from the political commitment to defending of the said rights. Next, his public-spirited sentimentalism found a way in looking for support of the so-called open Catholicism, that was expressed by the exhibitions in churches and ecumenical or interreligious meetings, that he organised after imposing the martial law in 1981.