" On Both Sides of the Odra" ­ Images by Michael Poulter
Polish Contemporary Art, BWA, Lublin
Folly, 26 Castle Park, Lancaster
29 November 2003 ­ 9 January 2004

Fine work from a local photographer

Double bill from Poland
Given that Lancaster has a sizeable Polish community, it is highly appropriate that a local gallery should present a double-bill of works from, and about, Poland.

The two exhibitions currently running at contemporary gallery Folly involve Poland. The first, "Biuro Wystaw Artyczynych, Lublin", is of contemporary Polish art from the eponymous and prestigious BWA art gallery in Lublin, and shows works in a variety of media and idioms. The installations are described in a series of handouts with lengthy supporting articles, and further illustrated in a swish and expensive catalogue.

But I do not feel able to comment on this show as I was confused by the accompanying 'artspeak' and overwhelmed by the works themselves. This is not to denigrate the artists or what they have made, but merely an admission that I do not have a sufficient level or breadth of knowledge to do them justice.

It is of course noteworthy that Lancaster should play host to one of Poland's foremost and innovative galleries, and that there is the opportunity to see what work is being produced in a country whose culture is an unknown quantity to many British people.

Narrative of journeys
I found the second show, however, a different matter entirely. Local photographer Michael Poulter, who lives in Grange-over-Sands, and who has been featured in the Royal Photographical Society's Journal has compiled a photographic narrative, in black and white, of his many journeys by rail from the former East Germany into Poland. This necessitates crossing the River Oder ("Odra", in the Polish) of the title, which forms a natural border between the two states.

All 13 images have a railway or tramway context as a common theme to illustrate the cities, rural areas, the landscape and the lives of ordinary people. The monochrome medium underpins well what to Western European eyes seems the grey, grim, one-dimensional daily life, urban or rural, that is commonplace throughout Poland today.

Even with the fall of communism, it will take many years for the former ex-Soviet bloc states to shake of the ubiquitous iron grip of greyness and mediocrity which blights many urban landscapes in Poland. To be fair, there has been much rebuilding and restoration to the brilliant colours of former times and new aspirations -- particularly the baroque glories of Pozna -- and parts of the heart of the capital, Warsaw.

A local but much-travelled artist
I enjoyed visiting Michael Poulter to talk to him about his work -- and a variety of other issues too. He told me that, as well as the narrative of his journeys to, from and within Poland over many years, he feels there are other aspects to his work which were not immediately apparent at first sight at Folly. He has a long-standing interest in travel, particularly by rail. He also sees the passion, energy and all the metaphors of journey which that form of transport so well invokes, and is keen to explore these ideas.

Search for El Dorado?
Poulter clearly agrees with Robert Louis Stevenson's dictum that "To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. Looking at the proper context of Stevenson's remark reveals what Poulter is saying. The quotation comes from El Dorado, the mythical Utopia, which is a part of his miscellany Virginibus Puerisque ('For young men and women') of 1881. "Stevenson is not only talking about physical travel, but an inner, emotional journey, or pursuit, too", Poulter says.

But, just as with Voltaire's wily Candide, Cervantes' metaphysical Don Quixote and others in pursuit of the unknown, the past, a better future or the unattainable, there is no room for mere sentimentality in his work. He disagrees strongly that there is any fatal or indulgently nostalgic fascination with an irretrievable past, "A la recherche du temps perdu".

Movement through image
The sequencing of the images starts from urban scenes in the dour former East Berlin, and moves over the Odra across Poland, through Pozna in Western Poland, and down into Upper Silesia in the South, and the area around Griezno and the industrial centre of Katowice. This location shift made for a clear sense of journey as I viewed the pieces in sequence.

There were photographs of Polish townscapes and, most evocatively for me, scenes of that country's remaining regular steam-run lines based on the city of Pozna. These are still largely state-run, as the corruption-riddled government has not got round to privatising the railways yet in the butchered manner of Thatcher. The steam lines still provide a valuable means of transport to the outlying and remote rural areas.

Used by commuters and local travellers alike, they also attract many transport enthusiasts from across the globe, and not least from the United Kingdom. The whole scenario, viewed as an embarrassing anachronism by the Poles, provides a useful flow of foreign currency into the state's coffers.

Precedents for weather, light and people
Railways have featured in visual art since the days of, notably, JMW Turner, René Magritte, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. Their evocative images could well have been reproduced to help the lay viewer place Poulter's work in the 150-year old historical context to which it is a worthy heir (see below for more information).

These 'classical' artists paint their engines and/or trains with people and, particularly dramatically in the case of Turner, the weather to create a more interesting piece than mere the simple portraiture of a means of transport.

The fine British railway posters from the Art Deco era of the 1930s and 1940s (there is a fine collection in the National Railway Museum and, surprisingly, at Scarborough Art Gallery) also use the concepts of travel and people as an advertising tool -- unusually a very tasteful and indeed nowadays highly collectable one.

In this tradition Poulter, too, is intent to use his chosen mobile mechanical backdrop to study people, their lives and -- critically -- their journeys. The severe Polish winters bring extreme weather conditions which offer exciting opportunities to explore nuances of light, shade and tone. All this he achieves this very well, with a subtle but strong technique, intelligent use of developing and printing methods, and an inspired eye.

The resultant works are evocative impressions of ways of life which are superficially unfamiliar to British eyes, but beneath which lie the yearnings, emotions, voyages and situations that are common to all humanity.

"Sorry, we're closed"
Poulter's work is superb, and Folly deserves credit for exhibiting a local artist. On the other hand, I am bewildered at Folly's sense of timing. The gallery is closed from this Friday (December 19) until Monday 5 January 2004. Why on earth is that? The two weekends preceding both Christmas and New Year will both see many thousands of people in Lancaster, and some will be grateful for an oasis of calm from the seasonal rush and crush. There will be visitors to the City, too, as well as local folk.

Others, too, perhaps wishing for release from the domestic penal servitude of the festivities, may well wish to go to an exhibition for a complete break, or for a different form of relaxation -- with the children perhaps -- over the holidays. I am personally particularly piqued as an old friend from Poland will be visiting Lancaster briefly over the New Year, and thus will not be able to see the two exhibitions from and about his adoptive country.

Labelling ­ show me a 'road map'!
Another problem I noted was the lack of fully descriptive labelling and guidance for Poulter's work. The Lublin show upstairs is well-documented with ample annotation and commentary, and indeed Poulter's images are individually labelled with their location.

But it was only by talking to the photographer and reading at leisure his clear, lucid notes that I came to more fully understand the implications of the journey he depicts. These notes are not available as handouts, but merely displayed in fairly small type on an adjacent wall near the images in Folly.

As for further aids to guide the viewer, I would have liked an annotated map of the area in question, pinpointing East Germany and Poland. This would further inform visitors and usefully enhance their understanding and appreciation of the journey the artist is describing. Brief handouts of, say, one or two sheets of A4 with a map and other relevant notes would be ideal.

Last, on this tack, Folly's current brochure does not even indicate the Polish connection between "On Both Sides of the Odra" and the Lublin works.

I do not know if all this is down to Poulter or Folly. I am merely concerned on behalf of the lay visitor that Folly, whose enterprise and initiative is a welcome and integral part of the local arts scene, should consistently provide as many pointers, as much support as they can, for the easier, wider and deeper appreciation of what it is exhibiting. I am sure they will get it right in the future.

All that aside, I am more than happy to hang Poulter's striking prints in my hallway or study.

Photographs © 2003 Michael Poulter and used with kind permission. Article copyright © 20 December 2003 Michael Nunn

Further Information
A brief selection of depictions of the early Railways in visual art:
• John Mallord William Turner: "Rain, Steam and Speed" ­ National Gallery, London
• René Magritte: "Time transfixed"- Art Institute of Chicago
• Claude Monet: "Railway Bridge at Argenteuil" ­ Musée Jeu de Paume, Paris, and "La Gare St Lazare" ­ Snark & Scala
• Vincent Van Gogh: "The Train from Arles to Orgon" ­ British Museum, London
• Gustav Doré: "Over London by Rail" ­ Tate Gallery, London

See also:
• C Hamilton Ellis: "Railways in Art", New York Graphic Society, Boston 1977
• "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton, London, Hamish Hamilton, is also of relevance.