Józef Hałas: In Pursuit

An exhibition of paintings and drawings

The Museum of Architecture in Wrocław

Organiser: All That Art! Foundation, Museum of Architecture in Wrocław

Curator: Bogusław Deptuła

Running: 24.03 – 28.05.2017

About one hundred and fifty works: oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, inks, watercolours, gouaches on papers, in the extraordinary space of the Wrocław Museum of Architecture in the former church of St Bernard. Works ranging from the earliest to the last, never shows to the public, painted shortly before the artist’s death. In the unusual, original presentation by curator, art historian and critic, Bogusław Deptuła, the late Józef Hałas, the Wrocław painter from Nowy Sącz, opens a new chapter in his story.

As the curator, Bogusław Deptuła writes:

The exhibition “Józef Hałas: In Pursuit” is an attempt at a somewhat different look at the work of the recently deceased excellent Wrocław painter, a great figure of the community. […] As the curator of this exhibition, I decided to show the selected themes of his art, themes that have to date existed less clearly in the consciousness of the audience. […] It was important to me to provide a different look at his art, to achieve a completely different emphasis. I wanted to show what simply caught my attention and caused the biggest aesthetic stir and satisfaction.

The ranges of blues, greens and greys, sometimes enlivened with stronger accents of orange, vermillion or dark blue remain works of the highest order, which can be described as colour field paintings. For Hałas himself, such a description would probably not be appropriate, because he preferred to see himself as a painted of motifs and themes with which he dealt through the years of his life and work, but in my view, these “Hałas” contexts and attributions may be abandoned in favour of being seen completely freely as self-sufficient, innate, full and complete works. That is how I see his relief “rains”, the abstract squares, and finally the most economical of all Verticals and diagonals. In these works, Hałas is probably himself the most – a refined painted of the highest order and excellence.

The exhibition “Józef Hałas: In Pursuit” is a sophisticated selection from among the areas in which the artist moved throughout his life, in an attempt to find the most perfect solutions in different artistic techniques. Viewers will be able to follow the nuances of the attempts at colour, structure or relief in relation to a specific creative idea. An important fact seems to be the idea, clearly visible in this selection, that towards the end of his life, the artist, with full artistic freedom, joyfully played with his most important artistic discoveries.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue and a publication of fragments of Professor Hałas’ private notes.

Józef Hałas: In Pursuit

An exhibition of paintings and drawings

The Museum of Architecture in Wrocław

Organiser: All That Art! Foundation, Museum of Architecture in Wrocław

Museum of Architecture in Wrocław

Bernardyńska 5

Media patrons: TVP 3 Wrocław, TVP Kultura, Radio Wrocław Kultura, Gazeta Wyborcza Wrocław, kulturaonline.pl,  Szum magazine,  Format,  Co jest grane 24, Architektura-Murator, O.pl,  ARCH, Architektura&Biznes.

Exhibition partners: Wrocław Municipal Office, mia ART GALLERY, Hałas Foundation, SleepWalker Boutique Hotel, Gephard Group, Fabryka Sensu.