Colloquia Theologica Ottoniana (Dec 2019)
Obrazy i rysunki w wychowaniu dzieci starszych do patriotyzmu
Abstract
Patriotic paintings awaken, enlighten, teach, and strengthen love towards the Fatherland. For many addressees, great battle scenes or the representations of events connected with history are linked to shaping the attitude of love towards the home country and they often have been aimed to add strength and motivate to be more engaged in the work for Poland. In the process of patriotic education of older children, the outstanding paintings of Matejko are very helpful. “The Sermon of Skarga” or “Rejtan” were focused on the criticism of the faults of the compatriots, while “Grunwald” on the merits that can serve the Fatherland. The paintings are moving with the clarity of the presented figures, vivacity of colours, complex composition, and rich symbolism. The works of Artur Grottger who created modest drawing cycles referring to the January insurrection were presented to growing children. “Polonia” and “Lithuania” are the result of the artist’s direct reaction to the events contemporary with him. While Grottger draws his addressees’ attention to dramatic contents, Maksymilian Gierymski “writes” a kind of report on the uprising and presents its participants’ daily life. The composition of the work titled “The Insurrectionary Picket in 1863” in a naturalist way transforms the experienced reality into an aesthetic scenery. Analysing a work of art can transfer important information on the world and help in perceiving it in a creative way. Children’s sensitivity to beauty requires methodical openness. Among the activating methods the following were proposed: puzzles, mysteries of people in a painting, completing a painting, or theatricalisation. The works of art used in both school and after-school education can be an essential contribution to building and deepening the relation with one’s home country, discovering one’s roots, and building one’s own identity. After God and family, man owes the most to his Fatherland, namely, language, tradition, ethnic culture, personality, moral and religious convictions. A nation shapes a person biologically, intellectually, and spiritually as well.
