Catalog for the exhibition “Maria Jarema: Cracked Modernism”

Cracked Modernism offers a new perspective on the work of Maria Jarema (1908–1958), one of the most original figures of Polish modern art.

From her early involvement in a politically engaged avant-garde to her position within international modernism, Jarema developed a distinctive visual language shaped by post-cubist abstraction, surrealism, and expressionism. After the war, she defended artistic autonomy, rejecting socialist realism and withdrawing from official exhibition circuits until 1954. Her later experiments with monotype opened new ways of exploring corporeality, subjectivity, and fragmentation. Jarema’s uncompromising practice continues to inspire bold interpretations. With contributions by Éric de Chassey, Agnieszka Dauksza, Małgorzata Dziewulska, Barbara Ilkosz, Dorota Jarecka, Joanna Kordjak, Luiza Nader, and Natalia Sielewicz.