Around the Janowska Group masters

About the exhibition

Nikiszowiec settlement was constructed between 1908 and the 1920s, for the employees of the ”Giesche” coal mine. In 1924, this area, together with the nearby Giszowiec, was joined to the  Janów municipality. After World War II, the ”Giesche” coal mine changed its name to ”Wieczorek” and, in 1960, Nikiszowiec was incorporated into Katowice. In 1946, a recreation room was established at the ”Wieczorek” coal mine, which, with time, changed into a club. This was owing to the efforts of a cultural and social activist from Janów, well-known among the miners – Otton Klimczok. He searched for artistically talented workers and – together with them – founded a group of amateur artists. At first, until 1956, the members of the group had to paint in accordance with the rules of social realism. After 1956, the artists gained more freedom and could develop their individual talents, while Klimczok brought the painting  instructor Zygmunt Lis into the group. The instructor did not impose his own artistic tastes on his tutees. For years, Otton Klimczok tried to advocate with the coal mine authorities for building a larger cultural centre in Nikiszowiec.

Owing to his striving, in the vicinity of the main building of the coal mine, a Company Culture Centre was established. Zygmunt Lis resigned after Klimczok’s death in 1971. However, the art group continued to operate. Many persons keen on painting came and went, but none of them gained the renown of  the artists who initially belonged to the group.

Seweryn A. Wisłocki, an anthropologist of culture, journalist, art critic and many years’ friend of the painters from the Amateur Artists Team at the ”Wieczorek” coal mine, was the one who noticed the specificity of the team. In order to emphasise their uniqueness and distinguish them from other amateur groups, he came up with the name Janowska Group.

The artists were united by a sense of cultural community, by living in the workers’ settlements in Janów, by similar fortunes during World War II and by the tradition of the micro region. Their paintings can be found in private and museum collections in Poland and abroad.

Among the first members of the Janowska Grup there were: Teofil Ociepka, Ewald Gawlik, Paweł Wróbel, Erwin Sówka, Leopold Wróbel, Eugeniusz Bąk, Paweł Stolorz, Antoni Jaromin, Bolesław Skulik, Gerard Urbanek.

The Janowska Grup still exists today. Nowadays, it comprises 16 persons: Sabina Pasoń, Stefania Krawiec ,Sylwia Gromacka-Staśko, Jan Czylok, Antoni Długi, Janusz Gawlik, Andrzej Górnik, Grzegorz Haiski, Jan Jagoda, Czesław Jurkiewicz, Paweł Kurzeja, Andrzej Lubowiecki, Zdzisław Majerczyk, Dieter Nowak, Piotr Porada and Artur Śmieja.

The artists meet at the branch of the Municipal Cultural Centre ”Szopienice-Giszowiec”  in Katowice. The Janowska Grup is considered a unique phenomenon at both European and global scale.

Justyna Jarosz

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