ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how Polish emigre artists adapted to the New York world of commercial and fine art in the 1970s and 1980s. It describes the social organization of the Polish art world as it existed under communism—primarily the post-Stalinist 1960s and 1970s—until the government's suppression of the Solidarity movement on December 13, 1981. The chapter focuses on Polish graphic and fine artists' adaptation to the New York art world. It looks at the changing environment of the art world in Poland after the fall of communism and explores the consequences these changes might have for artists and artistic life. The art world in Poland under communism was quite distinct from that in the West. The Union of Polish Artists maintained a great deal of freedom from political control, but it was suspended in 1983 by the Jaruzelski regime, which established a new Union of Visual Artists that was heavily boycotted by the artists.
