Quart 81: Female artists in Silesia and from Silesia
Despite a growing reassessment and increased recognition of women’s artistic work in Poland in recent years, female artists connected to Wrocław and the wider Silesian region remain markedly underrepresented. Gaps in art-historical research and the ongoing division between cultural centres and peripheral regions have led to an unclear and incomplete picture of the local women’s art scene.
This lack of visibility is especially striking considering Wrocław’s important role in the history of women’s and feminist art and its pioneering women like Maria Dawska and Natalia LL. The continued marginalisation of Wrocław’s female artists can be attributed both to broader mechanisms of peripheralization and to the specific character of the local art scene, shaped by the coexistence of avant-garde experimentation and strong artisanal traditions.
The editorial team of the journal Quart invites submissions for its upcoming issue Quart 81 “Female artists in Silesia and from Silesia: presence, invisibility, relocations and returns” which is dedicated to female artists connected to Wrocław/Breslau and the wider region of Silesia.
The volume addresses the mechanisms behind this uneven visibility of female artists in art-historical narratives related to this region while also tracing processes of rediscovery, migration, and recontextualization. Silesia’s multilayered past – marked by shifting borders, displacement, and cultural hybridity – provides a particularly fertile ground for examining questions of identity, belonging, and artistic mobility. The editors warmly encourage scholars from art history and related disciplines to contribute to this important discussion.
The reviewer welcome articles that go beyond biographical approaches and engage with broader methodological, historical, and theoretical questions. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Forgotten or overlooked female artists connected to Wrocław, Breslau or Silesia and their (re)emergence in art history
- Regional genealogies of women’s art in the context of the political and social history of the region
- Female artists in the context of the multicultural nature of Silesia through migration, exile and resettlements in the region
- Transcultural identities (Polish, German, Czech, Jewish, and others) and their artistic implications
- Modern and contemporary female artists and their multi-media work in the context of the media traditionally associated with women
- Feminist, queer and collaborative artistic strategies
- Structural challenges such as career discontinuities, emigration, or lack of archival documentation
- Research and scientific projects, curatorial practices, and the role of institutions in shaping the narrative on local art created by women
Submitted contributions should have a length of approximately 20,000 to 40,000 characters (with the possibility to include up to 10 images) and can be presented in English or Polish and must follow the journal’s editorial guidelines as they will be subjected to a double-blind peer review process. Contributions should be submitted by email to quart@uwr.edu.pl until April 30th, 2026.
For further information regarding the Call for Paper click here.