Preserving the heritage

The Book Art Museum is an institution founded to preserve the cultural heritage and to continue the activity of of Henryk Grohman, a collector of art-works and patron of the arts. Henryk Grohman (1862-1939) was a factory owner of German origin, a representative of the Grohman family in the K.Scheibler-L.Grohman United Cotton Factories, a company employing nearly 10000 workers. Henryk Grohman was a well known and estimated personality in the world of business and politics, not only in Łódź, but in Poland as well (he was the member of the Regent Council in 1916). A friend of great Polish artists (I.Paderewski, H.Sienkiewicz, Witkacy), he was collecting art (the collection in the Print Cabinet of Warsaw University Library), organising concerts both in the city and in his villa (he was the President of Łódź Music Society), supported financially competitions of applied arts and graphics. One of his last great deeds was a cheque for 100000 zloties donated for the Polish Army in 1939. Nowadays in the villa there are but memories of his exemplary services; this is why the villa should be still open to the public, and this is what the Book Art Museum has been demanding. Besides, the Museum is devoted to an art familiar to Henryk Grohman; he collected many Polish and European prints from before the II world war, and before his death he donated the entire collection to the Warsaw University Library. On the occasion of 150 anniversary of his birth, BAM published an artist's book titled “Henryk Grohman – a patron of arts and a collector”. The main purpose of this book is to present the cultural achievements of the villa's owner, to emphasize his role, to remind his merits after half century of oblivion, and to encourage the others to follow his example, within the function now called the “social responsibility of business”.