This is an unusual book - a book written by a connoisseur and collector of Polish folk art. For many years Hans-Joachim Schauss has been a frequent visitor to Poland, making the acquaintanceship - off the beaten track of tourists attractions - of Polish folk artists who enjoy a standing far beyond the borders of their homeland. He is on very friendly terms with many of them and presents the harvest of these numerous meetings in the shape of this extremely personal book, introducing us to his friends, the dedicated wood-carvers, potters, ceramists and painters describing in brief impressions where and how they live. After out-lining their approach to their art he lets them speak for themselves with tape recordings of what they revealed in the course of their talks with him. They speak about the key to their art, their creative ideas and their craft techniques. The book introduces twenty-four Polish folk artists. Most of them are of peasant stock and all of them are amateur artists. Each embodies an individual with his own idiom. The portraits and reproductions of their work in conjunction with the texts furnish an insight into the manifold aspects and significance of this branch of Polish culture whose equal hardly exists anywhere else.
