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 “Study of a young boy’s bust” by Antoni Jezierski Antoni Jezierski was born in 1859 in Ikhrovytsa in the former Tarnopol district (now Ukraine). After finishing lower secondary school in Lviv, in 1878–1882 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków. During the study at the School of Fine Arts, Jezierski’s works won 4 awards. The young painter also received a scholarship, thanks to which he was able to travel to Italy, where he visited Venice, Bologna, Florence and Rome. During his stay in Italy, Jezierski copied frescos and paintings. After returning to Kraków during the period 1884–1887, he continued his studies at the School of Fine Arts at the composition school of Jan Matejko. In 1890, thanks to another scholarship, he continued his education at the Munich academy. After returning to Poland, he created works in various cities in Russia. He died in 1939 in Lviv. |
 Painting “Guardian Angel” The picture was painted with oils on a wooden board. On the background of a landscape with a low horizon, two figures are depicted: a Guardian Angel and a child which he leads by holding its hand. |
 “The main gate to Henryk Jordan’s Park” The photograph shows the main gate of the Henryk Jordan park in Kraków. In the foreground, the road has been flattened (currently, 3 May Avenue), behind which there is a wooden bridge on the River Rudawa. Next, we see a tall wooden gate, with the inscription: Miejski/ Park Dra Jordana. In the background, on the left, a wooden pavilion designated the main pavilion... |
Did you know that Wooden folk toys In the past wood was the basic material used to manufacture toys, just like plastic is nowadays. Children were able to acquire toys in one of three ways: they could make them by themselves (among the exhibits from Małopolska’s Virtual Museums there is a bicycle made by a 12-year-old... |
 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. |
 Bogusław Bachorczyk, “Limahl” The Glamour of the Hollywood world, fashion, and celebrities constantly fascinates artists. It was irresistible to Andy Warhol, who, already in his teens, had created his own collection of photos autographed by celebrities, and, in later years, passionately perused tabloids and magazines for teenagers. He developed his youthful interests in a series of portraits of superstars, such as Marylin Monroe, Elvis Presley, Liz Taylor, and Mick Jagger. To accomplish this, Warhol used photos taken from glossy magazines, newspapers, and commercials, transforming them into series of repeated iconic images. |
 “Bike”/“Manikin of a child on a bike” (“The Dead Class,” 1975) Bike is an exhibit from Tadeusz Kantor’s performance Umarła klasa [The Dead Class].The premiere took place in the Krzysztofory Gallery in Kraków in November 1975. In the play was a prop of an “old man with a bicycle” going round and round, saying goodbye and leaving in step to the François waltz. The old man was played by Andrzej Wełmiński. |
 “Trolley” — prototype (“Let the Artists Die”, 1985) Wózeczek stał się w spektaklu symbolem wspomnienia dzieciństwa. Czytamy w Przewodniku po spektaklu: „Idziemy ku przodowi w przyszłość, / równocześnie zagłębiając się w rejony / PRZESZŁOŚCI, czyli ŚMIERCI. (...) / Siedzę na scenie, / JA — rzeczywisty, lat 70... / nigdy już nie stanę się na nowo / chłopcem, gdy miałem 6 lat... / wiem o tym, ale pragnienie jest / nieprzeparte, / nieustanne, / napełnia całe moje istnienie... / W drzwiach zjawia się / MAŁY ŻOŁNIERZYK — dziecko / JA — GDY MIAŁEM 6 LAT, / na dziecinnym wózeczku / (na moim wózeczku!)”. |
 “Child”, a sculpture by Wanda Ślędzińska Wanda Ślędzińska (1906–1999), a sculptor and a pedagogue associated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków for many decades. She started working at the academy as an assistant at Xawery Dunikowski’s studio. Ślędzińska was the first woman to become the head of the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. She held this post until she retired in 1970. |
 “Portrait study of a boy’s head” by Antoni Gierowski Antoni Julian Gasper Gierowski was born on 4 July 1860 in Wielgomłyny in the Radomsko district. He was educated at the Kraków School of Fine Arts in 1878–1883 and later at the Munich Academy. The painter died prematurely in 1888... |
 Child's cap from Peru Cap comes from the collection of Władysław Kluger from 1876. It is hand made with a figure of a bird on the top. Originally from Peru, the necropolis Ancon. It is dated to the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1476). It was made of wool and cotton. It has a diameter of 39 cm. |
 Wooden bike This small bike made by a peasant boy for his younger brother has no pedals or brakes – it is suitable only for downhill riding... We should pay attention to its construction – an indication of creativity and imagination. A two-wheeled bike with a frame of two wooden slats and handlebars made from a debarked stick. |
 Bike Tadeusz Seweryn (1894–1975) — Director of the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków — describes this bike in the scientific catalogue sheet as follows: ”A bike made of wood by a cattleman, Franciszek Gucwa. The full wheels (spokeless) are connected with wooden ploughs. The front one has handlebars, heavily fitted with iron at the place where it is connected to the axis of the bike. |
 Fishskin jacket A jacket sewn of tanned sea fishskin as protective wear for an Aleut child. Jackets and waterproof capes made of fishskin or intestines of sea mammals were worn over clothes made of seal or reindeer leather. The jackets provided protection against wind and water, being a necessary element during seal hunting trips. |
 Painting “Helenka with a Vase” by Stanisław Wyspiański Portraits of children occupy a special place in Wyspiański’s artistic oeuvre. Without the unnecessary sentimentalism, treated in a natural, affectionate manner with a great dose of sensitivity and realism, and captured in new and unexpected depictions, they refreshed the usual connotations related to this genre. |
 Toy “Wooden locomotive” This wooden steam train was made by Tadeusz Matusiak in the German prison camp, Luckenwalde (Stalag III-A), in 1944. Tadeusz Matusiak, who was born in Kęty in 1907, was a house painter by profession; from an early age, he painted pictures and carved in wood with great passion. He was a very talented artist. |
 Wooden toy — “A cart pulled by horses” A cart pulled by wheeled horses or rocking horses used to be one of the most favourite toys for children. Nowadays, it is coming back to store shelves in a fashionable and ecological design.
This wooden cart is part of a larger collection of toys from the museum in Myślenice and the object used to present the history of folk toy manufacturing in general. Folk toys are more than merely usable items as all of them have their own history and all members of a family were engaged in the production process. They were made mainly by peasants in the winter time, when they were able to carve toys because of less agricultural work. |
 Painting “Girl with Chrysanthemums” by Olga Boznańska Above all, Olga Boznańska is a portraitist, an artist of portraits painted in muted colours, sometimes almost monochrome. The figures in her paintings are usually represented indoors, against a neutral background constructed with diffused and subdued lighting, subtly defining the space and imparting her paintings with an aura of the unreal. |
 “Portrait of two boys” The photograph shows two boys in Kraków costumes. The photo is exceptional since it presents genuine Kraków costumes from the 1860–1880 period. On the left you can see a boy turned ¾ to the left. He is wearing a light russet coat and a Kraków four-cornered hat and is holding an Easter palm in his right hand propped against the ground. The other boy, taller and clad in a similar russet coat and a hat with feathers, is standing behind the boy with his hand on his shoulder. |
Did you know that “Childhood Room” As Tadeusz Kantor wrote, the childhood room is never a bright and sun-drenched space — such images are rather literary fiction. How can you capture and recreate what it was really like? Extracting the individual elements: the door, the window ... The window of the children’s room faced outwards, on the street with a pink storey tenement. ... |
