Warsaw: Director of National Museum Resigns

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According to this morning's press, the controversial director of Warsaw's National Museum resigned this morning. Piotr Piotrowski, had only been in the position about two years or so and in that period had managed to enter into conflict with many of his staff - some of whom are personal friends of mine. His period of office started off fine, a cultural affairs magazine I was on the editorial board of at the time did a glowing article welcoming him and his innovative new ideas which derived in part from his period of studies abroad (Washington, New York, Princeton etc). Sadly, on his appointment, he began a programme of sweeping dismissals of curatorial staff and attempted to put a stop to several important ongoing research projects which one feels went well beyond the measures called for due to the financial crisis (I guess I am a bit biased here).

He also received a lot of bad publicity for, among other things, mounting a controversial exhibition "Ars Homo Erotica", presenting what the press called "homosexual art" (certain influential elements in Poland are not particularly tolerant of homosexuality), but I thought the exhibition was a fun idea. Art surely should not only conform, but also challenge.

At the beginning of the year however, there was a damaging dispute about the loan of the Jan Matejko painting the "Battle of Grunwald" commemorating the battle (which used to be known to the English speaking world more often as Tannenburg) in 1410 when with its allies, Poland thrashed the Teutonic Knights. The battle was often used in later centuries as a symbol of national might by several nations, and was a sore point with the Germans. The Matejko painting is in my opinion an ugly and sterile academic daub, but a symbol of Polish national pride. Director Piotrowski wanted to send it on loan to Berlin and Cracow (hmmm). This painting is an absolutely huge canvas (4.26 x 9.87 m) with thick impasto oil paint. To transport it, the picture would probably have had to be removed from its stretcher and rolled, then unrolled and rolled again for it to come home. The painting itself is nineteenth century (1878) with all the conservation problems this type of material has, couple with the fact that because of fears for its safety (the Nazis wanted to get hold of it, probably to destroy it), it had spent most of the Second World War buried, and has been substantially weakened by that.

On the news of what the Museum's director had already agreed (I understand) without consulting staff, the chief conservator of the collections, Dorota Ignatowicz-Woźniakowska raised doubts about the safety of that procedure for the object. Piotrowski was forced to appoint an independent committee of conservators to examine the painting and discuss the matter. The Committee recommended not sending the painting anywhere, but Piotrowski then attempted to dismiss Ignatowicz-Woźniakowska reportedly for "activities against the Director" (sic). On 30th August 182 out of 190 members of staff of the museum (those he'd not already dismissed) signed a letter of protest against this proposal and expressing support for the conservator whose concern was for the safety of the objects in the Museum's care. ICOM was also kept informed. The final straw seems to have been the reported rejection just recently of Piotrowski's plans for the development of the Museum over the next ten years by the Board of Trustees (a board which had been created at the instigation of the new director himself).

This morning at a seven minute meeting with his staff Director Piotrowski announced it would be his last meeting with them and he announced his resignation to them before tendering it to the Ministry. This news is followed with great interest by the ordinary Pole, who has a far greater interest in the preservation of the national heritage and cultural property than the people of many other European countries, having painfully lost so much in the Second World War - including a vast amount of material that had been preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw (especially) and collections in Cracow, Poznan and other major towns and cities.

Unfortunately the new Director is going not only to regain the confidence of the staff, but also to start by finding the vast sum of money to conserve a mediocre and pompous nineteenth century painting because of the faults Piotrowski's independent committee found...

Isn't it dreadful? It says something for the lady's dedication that she was willing to risk her job for this - but cultural property is cultural property I guess. If it was not so BIG it would be less of a problem to cope with.
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