
Rembrandt and his Competitors
24.05.2006 - 27.08.2006
A display of the works by one of the most important Dutch masters. The graphic oeuvre of Rembrandt was juxtaposed with the achievements of his contemporaries. The 17th century is widely recognised as the golden age of Dutch art – print and its various techniques enjoying unparalleled growth and development. The works featured at the exhibition offered an overview of the achievements in the field. Rembrandt’s art was of special importance as his works had a great impact on printing in general, and etching in particular. Being a master of the latter technique, Rembrandt did not swerve from experimentation. The exhibition displayed the prints covering a wide range of themes – religion, genres, portraits (including those of his wife Saskia) and self-portraits. The exhibition was jointly organised by the International Cultural Centre and the Print Room of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences which boasts the biggest Polish collection of Rembrandt’s prints. A long-standing cooperation between the International Cultural Centre and the Print Room of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences has resulted in a series of exhibitions featuring the most significant phenomena in European prints.
Selected works available at the exhibition - part 1
Selected works available at the exhibition - part 2

Karolina Grodziska
Doctor of historical sciences, director of the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences and Arts, and editor-in-chief of its yearly magazine. A researcher of Polish burial places in Poland and abroad (beneficiary of several M.B. Grabowski Scholarships). In 2004 she received the Krakow Municipality Award for works on the history of Krakow cemeteries. Author of more than 300 academic works and essays, currently working on the third volume of Polskie groby na cmentarzach Londynu.

Prints Room of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Print Room in the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences Library – one of the most valuable collection of prints in Poland whose history goes back to the 19th century. It originates in the works from the Polish Library in Paris as well as a collection by the Moszyński family. Among the collection’s highlights, one finds the prints by such celebrated artists as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn. Until today, eight exhibitions have been organised by the International Cultural Centre in cooperation with the Print Room in the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences Library – a testament to the years-long cooperation between the two institution. To quote from the Director of the International Cultural Centre, Prof. Jacek Purchla, the exhibitions’ aim has been “to evoke the memory of one of the most valuable collections of European art in Poland; the collection which is an important part of our national heritage. By displaying the works in the International Cultural Centre Gallery, we bring them back to our collective memory. For years, the collection localised in the heart of Krakow remained practically unknown. Due to our exhibition efforts it has finally claimed it rightful place and is widely recognised nowadays”.

Rembrandt and his Competitors
Collective work
This album is a rare opportunity to compare Rembrandt van Rijn's graphic oeuvre with prints by his contemporaries– well-known artists he competed with on Amsterdam's art market: Jan Lievens, Adriaen van Ostade, Cornelis Visscher, Ferdinand Bol, Jan van de Velde II, Jacob van Ruisdael and printmakers from the Rubens school. The album contains 140 reproductions of impressive artistry, range of subjects and richness of iconography. The masters' self-portraits, portraits of their family members, friends and Dutch celebrities, landscapes, biblical and genre scenes usher us into old netherlandish printmaking, a world so little known in Poland still today.