Grand collection with a whiff of scandal

A collection of paintings, drawings and graphics once belonging to Art-B – a company involved in one of the biggest scams in the early 1990s – has gone on show at the National Museum in Warsaw. It was deposited at the museum by the National Bank of Poland. The exhibition lasts until July 12. More works from the collection are scheduled to be exhibited in the autumn.

The National Bank of Poland owns 34 paintings, drawings and graphics as well as 11 works of decorative art from the collection assembled by Art-B, whose owners fled the country after they were found to have abused the Polish clearing system in the early 1990s. The collection includes graphics by Pablo Picasso and paintings by Polish artists – Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929) and Tadeusz Makowski (1882 -1932). Malczewski was the initiator and leading representative of symbolism in Polish painting of the turn of the 19th and 20th century. He is known for hundreds of portraits and self-portraits. Makowski, who was influenced by Dutch and Flemish old masters, as well as Polish folk art, created his own distinctive metaphoric style featuring images of children painted in a primitivist fashion.

Art -B was behind the most scandalous Polish swindle of the 1990s. Two young owners Bogusław Bagsik and Andrzej Gąsiorowski used what is known as a financial oscillator to swindle over PLN 400 million from banks in 1990-1991. Bagsik was arrested in Switzerland in 1995, sent to prison and released after five years. Gąsiorowski lives in Israel. (MP)

Photo: Portrait of Doctor Ignacy Basler, Jacek Malczewski – courtesy of organizer.

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ECONOMIC MONITOR

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• ● In December 2009 and January 2010, as in previous months in the second half of 2009, the Polish economy stood out against other countries in terms of GDP growth. Poland’s economic growth was higher than projected and higher than in other European countries.
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• In 2009 construction output increased by 3.7%.
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• Retail sales increase in most product groups.
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• On the Warsaw Stock Exchange, stock prices were very volatile in January 2010.
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• At the end of December 2009 the registered unemployment rate (claimant count rate) amounted to 11.9% versus 11.4% in November.
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• At the end of January the president signed the 2010 budget bill into law. The bill was adopted by the parliament on December 18.
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• In the fourth quarter of 2009 the Polish economy turned out to be more resistant to the global crisis than had been projected and than the economies of Polish neighbours, something which boosts optimism in forecasts for 2010 and the next years.
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WEEKLY MARKET ANALYSIS

The last portion of macroeconomic data for January will be released on Friday when the National Bank of Poland (NBP) is expected to publish balance of payments figures. We estimate that the current account deficit reached EUR580 million while the consensus of the “Parkiet” daily is EUR614 million. We expect that growth in exports slowed slightly in January to 10.9% y/y. We also predict that imports had already made up for last year’s losses and rose by 7.7% y/y in January.

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