The Curatorship of an Archive? The Case of the Themersons

Abstract

The article concerns the Themerson Archive in Warsaw, which for nearly three decades was prepared for publication by art critic Jasia Reichardt. She not only sorted out these collections, but also acted as an intermediary between the artists, the Archive, and the audience. In this case, the curatorship of the archive is an effort to bring the individual parts of the collection closer to the audience by creating a narrative about the history of individual artifacts. The curator has bestowed on the materials a broad biographical context. In her article, Honorata Sroka comes up with the idea of the curatorship of archival collections. She develops a specific approach to curatorship by describing Reichardt’s exhibition methods, i.e., the latter’s strategies of presentation and presence in the Themerson Archive. Sroka moves away from the classic approaches to the theory of archives by regarding the curator’s activities not only as attempts to limit the public’s access to knowledge about the artists and the desire to guard their collections, but rather as organizational efforts aimed at formulating a coherent method for the presentation of materials. Moreover, Sroka emphasizes the fact that Reichardt’s experience as a long-time curator of art exhibitions, the author of numerous articles, and the director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London has allowed her to make a highly original contribution to the field of archival studies.