Art ephemera – Jasia Reichardt’s archive

Art ephemera – Jasia Reichardt’s archive

Since 1965, Jasia Reichardt has regularly sent blue cardboard boxes for the Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz. Their contents are mainly documents of social life accompanying the circulation of art around the world, especially in London. The varied material includes: pamphlet prints, foreign magazines, museum and gallery prospectuses, press clippings, invitations and exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs and books.

The collection donated to the museum, Jasia Reichardt called "art ephemera". According to the definition, ephemera are phenomena that pass quickly and without a trace. For example, in the plant world, they are annual species with a short life cycle. As for the archival materials mentioned above, they are prints that have utilitarian functions, with a short expiration date, which, despite their specificity, have been collected and organized in thematic folders. The author of the collection herself claims that "I started collecting what others throw away."

The oldest materials and book editions date back to the 1940s. The most recent are dated 2021. During this time, the quantity and quality of the communications produced have changed, and, above all, the method of publishing, which mostly became digital at the beginning of the 21st century.

The resource, currently in the Museum's possession, numbers about 2,000 items and is only a fragment of a larger whole, which is held in the author's home archive. According to Jasia Reichardt, the first materials from London were sent to the Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz for the then director, Ryszard Stanislawski, to share the latest trends in the field of art. Since then, the collection has been constantly expanded with new materials. Currently, the archive is under the care of the Department of Scientific Documentation, and the last shipment from London was received in 2022.

Jasia Reichardt, British art critic, curator and writer. Born in Warsaw in 1933 as Janina Chaykin. Niece of Franciszka Themerson.

Translations: Barbara Mokrzycka