Ladies and Gentlemen,

Can the life and art of Fryderyk Chopin inspire the works of satirists and humourists? Obviously, we can reply in the affirmative. In the past, we have frequently encountered such works.

Chopin himself was a gifted amateur graphic artist and a successful caricaturist. He was known for his fondness for jokes and pranks, such as the numerous dress-up games, and for mimicking other people. And yet, history has passed down to us an image of that artist which is as statue-like as it is sublime. In reality, he was a sensitive man of cheerful and playful temperament. No wonder, then, that the international competition 'Chopin's Smile', organised by the Museum of Caricature and Cartoon Art in Warsaw, has evoked a wide response among cartoon artists worldwide. It may seem a bit strange, though, that many authors took the metaphorical title of the competition rather too literally and so, among the submitted works, the most common image was the smiling face of our composer with a piano keyboard in the place of teeth.

The jury had quite a puzzle to solve. Still, for the post-competition exhibition they qualified only carefully selected works with a wide topical range and a rich palette of formal solutions. Personally I am only disappointed that the submitted works mostly made use of computer graphics, at the expense of drawing and artistic graphics.

In the veritable deluge of anniversary concerts and competitions, our initiative, developed in close co-operation with the Chopin 2010 Celebrations Office, stands out as an original and - by all means - an untypical project. The verdict of the competition jury may come as a bit of a surprise, as all the regulation prizes have been granted to artists from Poland - even though there were five foreigners among the jury. It was, however, their own opinion that "...the Poles were simply the best and knew and felt Chopin better than others."

The jurors were right, though many of the entries from abroad were also extremely interesting and their value was confirmed by special awards. The high status of the project was enhanced by the honorary patronage assumed by: the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the President of Warsaw and the Marshal of the Mazovia Province.

The post-competition exhibition will be opened in the Museum of Caricature and Cartoon Art for more than 5 months, also during the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

I wish much good quality entertainment and artistic reflection to all the visitors. I am convinced that 'Chopin's Smile' will make a significant contribution to the promotion of the person and work of Fryderyk Chopin, and prove to be a major event in the calendar of the celebrations of the great composer's birth bicentenary.

Marek Wojciech Chmurzyński
Director of the Museum of Caricature and Cartoon Art