Exhibitions

Dancers, actors, actresses, acrobats. “Misfits who cover up something and reveal something in dance positions or circus tricks, assume and change roles, perform their dance steps alone or interact with the crowd through dance”.

Presented works by Mieczysław Wejman, painter and graphic artist, known, among others, from the Cyclist series, created in occupied Warsaw at the turn of 1943 and 1944. For years, Dancers was interpreted as a universal story about the war apocalypse, but a more detailed analysis, revealing the unique context of the works, allows the graphics to be linked with the history of occupied Warsaw, the Jewish inhabitants of the ghetto, and victims of the spring 1943 uprising.

"The works of Mieczysław Wejman, created in the years 1943-1944, between the ‘Great Action’ in the Warsaw Ghetto (July 1942) and the Ghetto Uprising (April 1943) and the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising (August 1, 1944), became one of the most important Polish artistic documents recording the time of occupation – and especially of the Holocaust", writes Dr. Piotr Rypson, curator of the temporary exhibition „Dancers 1944. Mieczysław Wejman” in the introdution to the exhibition catalogue.

Curator: dr Piotr Rypson 

The exhibition is open Monday–Friday 10 am – 5 pm.

The Polish Institute in Rome
Via Vittoria Colonna 1, Rome

More information

The Polish Institute in Rome thanks the family members of Mieczysław Wejman, the National Museum in Warsaw, the curator Piotr Rypson, the guests: Wlodek Goldkorn, Luiza Nader, Katarzyna Person, Piotr Rypson, and the partners: the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Fondazione Museo della Shoah.