Friedrich Iwan belongs to the top artists originated in the area of Czech – Polish borderline in Iser-Riesen Gebirge and Glatz regions. His work was focused on landscape, hidden settlement places and mountain sites, including towns and villages under the mountains. As it is 130 years anniversory of his birth in 2019, his art will be presented to today´s inhabitants and visitors of the area in a form of exhibitions all over the mentioned area. Iwan belongs to the generation of forgotten artists in result of the second world war and the focus is to introduce his art and the pre-war face of the region, that Iwan documented in his paintings and graphics. As he worked frequently on both sides of the borderline, his work connects Czech and Polish locations into one field of interest. In 2018 an exhib ition of his work was held in the Museum of Kamienna Góra, where a catalogue of over 300 pages was printed. Museum is the partner of the project and supplies contacts, text for the catalogue and advisory work. Catalogue will be printed in Czech in a reduced form, using the know-how and information. Kamienna Góra was a birth town of F. Iwan. Despite of the artisic value of Iwan´s work it is also important for its documentary and historical value, as many of locations were dramatically changed or vanished. Overview represented by exhibitions and catalogue provides an excellent research opportunity and helps local people to identify with their living space of today.

The exhibition will be organized on seven locations, all somehow connected with Iwan´s life or work. In all of the locations a slightly different artworks will be show, as local institutions and collectors will be involved and will allow to exchibit works from their collections. The core of the exhibition will be the same everywhere, but bigger amount of works will be added on each individual exhibition. This way local people on Czech and Polish side will be directly involved in the project and will attract broader public, local media and so on. It will also help to find and document unknown works of Iwan and possibly also other artists especially from private collections, that are normally unknown and unseen. All will appear in the catalogue finally, in the printed or virtual version. Lectures and commented tours on exhibitions will be held, with explanations for t he life and work of Iwan, abut also broader relations of his, with people, artists, locations and so on. Art is a universal language, beuaty of Iwan´s work opens emotion and that helps especially the local people to identify with former German territories and understand its history, values of architecture, landscape and heritage of the region. None of the artists of the area was presented this complex way in a solo project and it is a unique collaboration of Czech and Polish partners on a project like this.

The absolute majority of population in the whole area of Iser- Riesen Gebirge (Giant Mountains) and Glatz was completely changed in result of the second world war. The original German inhabitants were uprooted and moved to Germany, new inhabitants were uprooted from thier origin and placed to these locations, mainly with specific German architecture, urbanism and culture. German heritage was mainly neglected, newcommers were not motivated to preserve it and the continuity of hundreds of years of cultural development was cut off. Discovering valuable art and heritage of pre-war times for the today´s local population creates very important binds with the vanished past and opens fields for involvement, interest and connection. Especially Iwan is a positive example of an artist, who worked on both sides of the borderline, did very special type of work, and did not parti cipate o n nazi propaganda, so is not rejected by the public for political reasons or war crimes. All this supports building of local consciousnes and in cooperation of Czech and Polish partners on the project also understanding of similar history and need for shared experience and collaboration.