Krytyka kultury w PRL-u. Na podstawie Dziennika Jana Józefa Szczepańskiego

Abstract

The starting point for the author of the article is the thesis that the „cultural critic” of PRL by Jan Józef Szczepański was formed against the model of the socialist realism art and the ideology-laden mass culture. Szczepański’s attitude towards PRL from the beginning didn’t rely on feelings, but on the assess the schematic and simplified aesthetic that was imposed on artists. On the basis of Diary is indicated some unexpected aspect of Szczepański’s involvement in cultural life in 1940s and 1950s, which is the advertent observation socialmind sets and artists’ performances, the searching for symptoms of the creative independence (for instance the art-making of Tadeusz Brzozowski, the exhibition of the youth visual artists „Arsenal” in Warsaw in 1955). The analysis of excerpts of Diary leads the author of the article to the statement that Szczepański’s „cultural critic’ of PRL is a part of his criticism of the contemporary culture.