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Did you know that „Dlaczego jedynymi pomnikami, jakie stawia Wróblewski ludziom, są nagrobki?” W styczniu 1948 roku dwudziestojednolatek z dorobkiem kilkudziesięciu prac i udziałem w dwóch studenckich wystawach pisał tak: „Każdy malarz i naukowiec w Krakowie to mąż + prowodyr czy sekretarz + lew salonowy + ojciec domu i głowa rodziny + fachowy + twórca. Moją ambicją jest być: stary kawaler + twórca”. Jego wyrazisty „samorząd wewnętrzny” oparty na dyscyplinie myślenia i postrzegania, odrzucał przeciętność, bylejakość i kompromisy sprowadzające artystę do „automatu czynnościowego”. Niespełna trzy tygodnie wcześniej o sobie samym zanotował: „Jestem synem, Polakiem, inteligentem, wielokrotnym kolegą, przechodniem i pocieszycielem”. Oto Andrzej Wróblewski (ur. 1927, Wilno – zm. 1957, Tatry) – towarzysz, obywatel, komunista, kandydat do Partii, asystent na Wydziale Malarstwa krakowskiej Akademii Sztuk Pięknych, odznaczony Medalem X-lecia Polski Ludowej. Historyk i krytyk sztuki, przejściowo socrealista. Mąż i ojciec. |
 Marble plaque commemorating the burial site of queen Jadwiga A plaque of black marble from Dębnik, situated to the north of the base of the main altar in the Wawel cathedral. The entire eastern part of the chancel is elevated above the floor level and forms a spacious platform for celebrations of liturgical ceremonies. In the middle of it and on the sides, there are three identical protrusions.
In 1605, an Italian stonemason, Ambrogio Meazzi, was commissioned to dismantle the fence in front of St Erasmus altar (the ciborium was relocated to the Chapel of Our Lady) and move the tomb of Frederick Jagiellon, as well as to change the layout of stairs leading to the main altar. |
 Group AES+F, “Défilé #1” The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using f life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind. |
 Group AES+F, “Défilé #4” The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind. |
 Group AES+F, “Défilé #6” The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using f life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind. |
 Damask fabrics from the grave of St queen Jadwiga Queen Jadwiga d’Anjou died on July 17th, 1399, several weeks after she gave birth to her daughter, Elizabeth Bonifacia (June 22nd), probably due to labour-related complications (puerperal fever). She was buried on July 19th together with the child, who had died several days earlier, in the chancel of the Wawel cathedral, to the north of the base on which the main altar is situated. The queen was buried in rich clothing of damask with sleeves trimmed with strips of thicker fabric with rhomboid pattern.
Burial clothing is one of the most moving mementoes of the great saint. It is difficult to determine the original colour scheme of fabric that have undergone a permanent change as a result of 500 years spent in a dark and damp grave. Undoubtedly, they were extremely expensive and luxurious fabrics, reflecting very high standards of living at the court of Władysław Jagiełło and his wife Jadwiga in late 14th century. The first of these fabrics, clearly oriental in style, was probably made in Egypt in the 15th century. Patterns visible on the other two fabrics are closest to Spanish weaving manufactures from the 13th, 14th, and 15th century. |
 Group AES+F, “Défilé #5” The AES+F group shows dead bodies dressed in ballroom finery. The dramatic content is emphasised by using f life-size photographs, made all the more realistic by being displayed in lightboxes. The human fear of passing away is hidden behind obsessive adornment of the body. Death is presented in its “luxury” version which, despite all efforts, only serves to emphasize the deadness of the corpse. The series Défilé consists of 7 photographs in lightboxes. Film with the photographic prints has been glued to Plexi and placed in aluminium boxes, lit from behind. |
 Sculpture “Over a grave” by Antoni Pleszowski This woman with a melancholic look on her face and her hair coveredh, gives the impression of being deeply immersed in her thoughts, which may reflect the passing and loss of a loved one. The manner of presenting the sitting, freely-posed figure derives from the works of Michelangelo, as well as later Roman sepulchral sculpture of the Baroque period, with which the author of the work — an artist educated in Kraków, Vienna and Rome — was very familiar. |
Did you know that The practice of casting death masks The custom of creating death masks of important figures became especially popular in the 19th century, although the very tradition of creating such likenesses can be traced back to ancient Rome, where wax casts of the emperor’s face (effigies) were presented for public viewing. According to common practice... |
Did you know that From the diary of a body Is it possible to dry a body in a herbarium? I will ask more expressively: Is it possible to dry a living body in a herbarium? Or even more clearly: Is it possible to dry the body of your own adolescent son in a herbarium? |
 Hearse Exhibits like this are rarely seen in Polish museums. This beautifully ornamented, obviously black hearse dates back to the late 19th century. Its owner put it up for sale in Bęczarka, a village located 20 km from Dobczyce. One of the residents of Dobczyce bought it and donated it to the local Regional Museum. |
 “The Trumpet of the Last Judgement” (“Where Are Last Year’s Snows”, 1979) The “trumpet” was an object — a prop of the Rabbi character (played by Zbigniew Gostomski) and his Pupil (Dominika Michalczuk). The natural-sized tin trumpet was covered with a black material, a kind of casing whose end on the cup side dropped loosely falling into the metal bucket. The trumpet was hung on a metal frame structure (nearly 3.5 metres high) where a system of blocks and transmissions was installed with steel links enabling it to be raised and dropped by a crank handle. |
 Cartonnage mask This anonymous cartonnage mask probably dates back to the Ptolemaic period (306–30 BC). The mask is gilded on the face but eyes, pupils and eyebrows are marked black. It has a typical blue wig (nemes). The representation of the deceased is definitely idealised and it bears no distinguishing features. |
 Short-toed Eagle Short-toed Eagle — Circaetus gallicus (Gmelin, 1788) is a bird of prey in the family of Accipitridae. It feeds on different species of reptiles, especially snakes. Occasionally hunts for amphibians and small mammals. In Poland, bird is very rare — can be found... |
 Bartek Materka, untitled [“Skeletons”] Reconstruction of an open grave. By the manner of painting, the artist has emphasised the emotive quality of the represention of a post mortem. |
 Sculpture “Sikorski grave” The sculpture Sikorski's Tomb was made in 1987 by Julian Stręk of Pustków-Rudki near Dębica, one of the recently discovered, leading Polish naive artists. It is a composition of many three-dimensional figures and elements made of pine wood, with oil polychrome of aquamarine dominant and with details in silver, walnut and blue colours. |
 Painting “Son and His Killed Mother” by Andrzej Wróblewski The painting shows a small boy embracing a woman who is presented from her shoulders down, without her head. The woman is dead, although it seems that she is returning the caress with a numb gesture of her hand. The artist painted her in a bluish azure and dressed her in a blue dress. He painted all war victims and dead people in this way — using the symbolism of blue: the sphere of shade, immateriality, and transcendence. The form generalised and knowingly made primitive as well as nearly evenly laid colour are for the condensation of essence and expression. |
Did you know that Holy Week in the Małopolska’s Virtual Museums On the website of Małopolska’s Virtual Museums, a large group of objects referring to the period of Easter and the cult of the Passion of Christ may be found... |
Did you know that Salome III – a Biblical seductress Seductive Salome, as a symbol of a femme fatale, became a character of numerous paintings, sculptures, literary and musical works. She excited the imagination of artists, especially in the decadent period of fin de siècle, when possessive and lethal femininity constituted one of the most important motifs in art. |
 “Peter’s Head” from the cycle “Herbarium” by Alina Szapocznikow Body casts appeared in works by Alina Szapocznikow in 1965, when she began to present her own fingers and mouth in sculptural material. In 1971, she made of polyester the crushed Autoportret–Zielnik [Self-Portrait — Herbarium], regarded as an introduction to Zielnik [Herbarium] — one of her most important works made on the basis of body casts. |
