Joanna Szydłowska (1906-1994). A Non-Obvious Story

The exhibition “Joanna Szydłowska (1906-1994). A Non-Obvious Story” (Historia nieoczywista) traces the artistic path of a Lublin visual artist and jeweller, 23 October 2026 - 31 December 2026 , at the Museum of the History of the City of Lublin in the Krakow Gate (Brama Krakowska). You will see sketches of her designs, finished works and a film featuring her daughter.

Museum of the History of the City of Lublin on the exhibition (our translation of the museum’s Polish text):

An exhibition devoted to the Lublin visual artist and jeweller Joanna Szydłowska. It concerns her artistic path, from her youth to her mature years. The story is woven around the biographical threads that shaped the heroine’s creative work - her years of study in Warsaw and Vilnius, her experiences in the Ravensbrück concentration camp and the post-war realities of communist Poland. The artist worked in decorative metalwork and art jewellery, which became her favourite form of artistic expression. The exhibition brings together sketches of her designs and examples of finished works. The objects come from private collections and from the collection of the Prywatne Muzeum Historyczne “Znaki Czasu” (Signs of the Times Private History Museum). The narrative is extended by a film featuring the artist’s daughter, Krystyna Mrugalska.

What to expect

At the centre of the exhibition are decorative metalwork and art jewellery, which Szydłowska chose as her favourite form of expression. The museum shows both sketches of designs and finished works, so you can follow the path from drawing to finished object. The objects come from private collections and from the collection of the Prywatne Muzeum Historyczne “Znaki Czasu”.

In its announcement of the exhibition, the museum shows two silver rings from the “Znaki Czasu” collection. The first, with coral, dates from the 1960s, and the second, with lapis lazuli and a plate with “curlicues”, from 1972. Both were made in mixed technique.

The curators of the exhibition are Grzegorz Sztal of the Prywatne Muzeum Historyczne “Znaki Czasu” and Dr Małgorzata Kierczuk-Macieszko and Dr Małgorzata Surmacz of the Museum of the History of the City of Lublin.

The story is extended by a film featuring the artist’s daughter, Krystyna Mrugalska. The museum does not give its title. On YouTube there is a film, “Joanna Szydłowska. Historia nieoczywista”, featuring her, directed by Grzegorz Sztal and scripted by Małgorzata Surmacz, two of the exhibition’s curators. That film runs 17 minutes 39 seconds.

If you want to learn the artist’s life story before your visit, watch that film at home. On site you can then concentrate on the sketches and the jewellery.

Context

Joanna Szydłowska, née Jankowska, graduated, according to the description of the film about her, from the State Institute of Handicrafts (Państwowy Instytut Robót Ręcznych) in Warsaw and from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. The museum names these years of study in Warsaw and Vilnius as one of the exhibition’s threads.

During the German occupation she was a prisoner of Ravensbrück, a German concentration camp for women that operated from 1939 to 1945, about 90 km north of Berlin. The same description says she was among the prisoners subjected to medical experiments. There she secretly carved miniatures from toothbrush handles.

After leaving the camp she kept a diary in which she described the dangerous and difficult journey of the women prisoners home. Magda Grydniewska’s Radio Lublin reportage “Dziennik po Ravensbrück” (Diary after Ravensbrück) draws on that diary.

After the war she worked in decorative metalwork, mainly silver jewellery, and made the sign of the “Czarcia Łapa”, which no longer exists. A photograph from the 1960s, published by the museum, shows her at work in a flat at ulica Narutowicza 27 in Lublin. In December 2024 the Youth Culture Centre No. 2 (Młodzieżowy Dom Kultury nr 2) in Lublin announced a screening of a film with the same title as the exhibition, together with a display of her workshop equipment and her work.

Tickets and time

Ticket: the museum’s online shop has no separate ticket for this exhibition. It sells one item for the whole branch, “Zwiedzanie Muzeum Historii Miasta Lublina. Brama Krakowska” (standard ticket 10 PLN (about 2 EUR), reduced 8 PLN (about 2 EUR)).

Where: at the Museum of the History of the City of Lublin, the branch in the Krakow Gate. Branch opening hours: Tue-Sat: 10:00-17:00, Sun and Mon: closed.

Extension: the museum reserves the possibility of extending the exhibition to the end of January 2027. For now this is only a possibility, so before a visit in January make sure the exhibition is still on.

Who it is for: people interested in art jewellery and decorative metalwork, and those curious about the artist’s path through the war and communist Poland. It will also suit anyone following the fates of Polish women prisoners of Ravensbrück, as the camp is one of the threads of her life story.

Who can skip it: anyone looking above all for the history of the camp. Ravensbrück is one of three biographical threads here, and at the centre are the sketches and the jewellery.

What the press says

Radio Lublin (26 October 2026, the page of Magda Grydniewska’s reportage): the station presents the exhibition as devoted to a Lublin metalworker and jeweller, a long-time member of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (Związek Polskich Artystów Plastyków) - link

See also

Other exhibitions in Lublin:

• Did the World Find Out? - the exhibition at the Pod Zegarem Martyrdom Museum shows the so-called “sabotażyki”, figures carved by women prisoners, Joanna Szydłowska among them, from toothbrush handles and buttons.

Up-to-date information on the exhibition is on its page on the museum’s website.

Museum profile: Museum of the History of the City of Lublin.