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Did you know that Olga Boznańska. Search for independence The creative position of women in the 19th century was subject to numerous conditions and threats. Conditions primarily originated in the professionalization and institutionalization of artistic life, which — at least for women of this generation — were a hindrance to an artistic career. Difficulties arose from the limited access to institutions, from customary conventions, but also from a life full of personal tragedies and financial dependency. The women of Olga Boznańska’s generation constituted the first distinct group practicing art professionally, unlike their predecessors, who, with few exceptions, were amateurish, often talented and artistically educated. |
Did you know that Julian Fałat Julian Fałat (1853–1929) was the first eminent Polish painter who — despite coming from a peasant family and having no financial support — received an education in art and occupied... |
Did you know that Known/Unknown Konstanty Laszczka Konstanty Laszczka (1865–1956) seems to have been less famous than his contemporary Young Poland artists, with many of whom he befriended and portrayed in his works. Was his style not original enough? |
Did you know that Photography of Wyspiański and Mehoffer In the collection of the Museum of Ziemia Biecka in Biecz, there is a unique photo from 1889, depicting the students of the second year of thethen School of Fine Arts (today’s Academy of Fine Arts) in Kraków, during an educational trip around the regions of Sądecczyzna and Biecz under the supervision of Prof. Władysław Łuszkiewicz. |
Painting “Józef Mehoffer self-portrait” The painter — a small-bodied young man with the look of an intellectual — represented himself in the form of a bust portrait in a foreground, against a neutral background. He looks at us attentively through his pince-nez. Although portrayed principally en face, he is marked by a lively posture, manifesting itself in an asymmetrical position of Mehoffer's shoulders, the artist's head being slightly turned to the right, with his face being somewhat turned in the opposite direction. |
Painting “Meditations” (“Ash-Wednesday”), from the Cycle: "Ceremonies" — VII Witold Wojtkiewicz occupies a special position among the Young Poland painters. His paintings, typical of the decadent fin de siècle, were described by André Gide as the “personal fusion of Naturalism, Impressionism and grotesque.” The artist created his own painting world, astonishingly expressionistic, as if from some somnambulistic vision. |
Painting “Self-portrait in White Dress” by Jacek Malczewski Jacek Malczewski is a painter of the largest number of self-portraits in the history of Polish art. As was joked in a Green Balloon’s [Zielony Balonik] cabaret show in Jama Michalika, the artist represented himself “Once in a flat hat, once without that | Once as a professor, once as a lord (…) | Once in a sweater, and with a panther | With a tail or without one.” |
“Giardino Giusti” by Jan Stanisławski The Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków stores several landscapes of small sizes typical of the painter. The landscape painting, Giardino Guisti, depicts the famous gardens of the Pallazo Giardino Giusti in Verona. |
“La Certosa” by Jan Stanisławski Jan Stanisławski (1860–1907) is one of the greatest painters of the Young Poland period and an excellent landscape painter, known primarily for his miniature scenery painting. At the end of the 19th century, Stanisławski made numerous artistic journeys. He visited Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. He also travelled many times to his homeland: Ukraine. |
“The Little Garden” by Jan Stanisławski Jan Stanisławski (1860–1907) is one of the greatest painters of the Young Poland period and an excellent landscape painter, known primarily for his miniature landscapes. The Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków stores several landscapes of small sizes typical of the painter. Among them is the painting entitled The Little Garden. |
“The Garden in Dębniki” by Jan Stanisławski Jan Stanisławski (1860–1907) is one of the greatest painters of the Young Poland period and an excellent landscape painter, known primarily for his miniature landscapes. The Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków stores several landscapes of small sizes typical of the painter. Among them is a painting depicting a garden in Dębniki near Kraków. |
Painting “Jacek Malczewski Self-portrait” Jacek Malczewski, one of the most outstanding Polish Symbolism painters left a rich artistic legacy. The work of Malczewski is extremely extensive and multi-layered. His paintings present his personal desires as well as the national tragedy and traditions. Mythology intertwined with religion, folk motifs mixed with tale themes. |
Wooden cassette with triptych by Józef Mehoffer This consists of a wooden cassette, iron-shod with brass, with a two-winged hinged lid, a brass shield at the front, with “WIELICZKA” and a crown at the top. It contains a document granting honorary citizenship of the city of Wieliczka to Doctor Kazimierz Junosza-Gałecki. |
Painting “Portrait of Stanisław Synowiec, an old steward of Wawel Cathedral” by Leon Wyczółkowski The portrait has been drawn with pastels on greyish green, grained textured paper, glued on thick, lightly coloured cardboard. The man portrayed, Stanisław Synowiec, was framed head-and-shoulders en face. |
Did you know that Lounge chairs from the user’s perspective Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński had a unique opportunity not only to get to know Wyspiański, but also to sit on the furniture designed by this Kraków artist on a daily basis. How did he assess the suite designed for the lounge? Years later, he recalled: “Only once did we dare protest and only after a lengthy argument about who would... |
Did you know that The legend of the “Green Balloon” cabaret The originator of the idea of creating an artistic cabaret was Jan August Kisielewski, after his return from Paris. Cukiernia Lwowska [Lviv Confectionery], run by Jan Michalik, was a meeting place for the Kraków bohemians to which belonged students and graduates of the Academy... |
Did you know that Boy about Wyspiański’s furniture Recognising Wyspiański’s genius, Boy-Żeleński joked that if he were asked to design a locomotive, as a complete artist, he would have scrupulously brought the completed design on the next day. It is no wonder then that furniture became one of the fields of his activity. |
Mock-up of decorations of act I of “Legenda II” (“Legend II”) by Stanisław Wyspiański This mock-up is one of the most valuable objects in the collections of HMK, related to the scenographic activity of Stanisław Wyspiański. As an experienced theatre practitioner and stage director of his dramas, Wyspiański made scenography sketches, decorations, and costume designs, as well as mock-ups. |
Painting “Portrait of the Artist's Wife: In the Summer Apartment” by Józef Mehoffer This painting, characteristically shaped as a vertically extended rectangle, is a portrait of the artist's wife against a background of the interior of a summer apartment. This piece was created in 1904 in Zakopane, where the Mehoffers rented a newly completed wooden highland house for a few months. |
Andrzej Wajda's journal of the performance of “The Wedding” (Stary Theatre, 1991) Directors’ journals usually include unique notes concerning the production of a film or performance. They are notebooks in which all essential information is recorded – from their thoughts about the interpretation, suggestions for the arrangement of stage movements to the list of actors together with their telephone numbers. For the reader, it can be a treasury of knowledge on a stage or film adaptation of a work and offer an insight on the director's method of working. The presented journal of Andrzej Wajda is a record of his work on The Wedding by Stanisław Wyspański, which was staged in the Stary Theatre in Kraków in 1991. |