The Warsaw Group Rytm (1922-32) and Modernist Classicism

The first monograph of the influential Polish group Rytm to be published in English, this book is a nuanced reconstruction of this forgotten interwar association of artists, and an original contribution to the ongoing debates on the new classicism in Europe. Engaging critically with both recent scholarly works, and early twentieth-century writing, on modernism, classicism, Maurice Denis, and Henri Bergson, it offers a reassessment of the critique of the concepts of decorativeness, style, and rhythm, and poses important questions about the broader historiography of the 1920s in Europe as a whole.

“The book provides a valuable and unique study of the group […]. [It] expands the modernist canon by reinstating Rytm, but it also makes a significant contribution to the ongoing debates concerning ‘modernist classicism’ in European art.”
Christina Lodder, Honorary Professor of Art History, University of Kent and Honorary Fellow, University of York

“Until recently, scholars have tended to downplay more aesthetically ‘traditional’ developments in Eastern European art, focusing almost exclusively on the avant-gardes. Sears’ excellent book is symptomatic of a shift away from such approaches today. She is a leading figure in a revisionist generation who emphasise continuity and hybridity over utopia and rupture.”
Klara Kemp-Welch, Reader in 20th Century Modernism, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Małgorzata Sears is an art historian and artist educated in Poland and the United Kingdom and based in London. She studied fine art in Cornwall (Falmouth) and art history in London (Courtauld Institute of Art), where she was awarded her doctorate and was a Visiting Lecturer. She specialises in Polish interwar art and has a wider interest in European modernism, especially its links to notions of Classicism.