The Great Painters
Jacek Malczewski
- one of the most sovereign artists

Jacek Malczewski, self-portrait (1925), Wikipedia
Jacek Malczewski
(1854-1929)
THE FATHER OF POLISH SYMBOLISM
CINEMATOGRAPHY OF THE IMAGE
MODERN ARTIST
FOLKLORE AND ROMANTICISM
COLORFUL NOVELTY
Jacek Malczewski
1854
(15 July) Jacek Malczewski, son of Julian and Maria of Korwin Szymanowski, was born in Radom.
1867-1871
he stayed in Wielgie in the estate of his uncle Feliks Karczewski, where his teacher was a January insurgent, naturalist and writer Adolf Dygasiński (1839-1902)
1873
Jan Matejko (1838-1893) notices in Jacek Malczewski's "an impaired talent for painting" and personally asks his father to let his son leave the junior high school and devote himself exclusively to studies in an art school. This is what happened - Jacek Malczewski left the gymnasium and started studying at the Cracow School of Fine Arts.
1876-1877
he went to Paris, where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
1879
as a result of the conflict with Jan Matejko left the School of Fine Arts
1884
After his father's death in January, Jacek Malczewski experiences dramatic moments. From then on, the motif of death appears in his paintings and constantly returns
1885-1886
study stay in Munich
1887
He married Maria Gralewska, daughter of a Krakow pharmacist. They lived together in the Gralewskis' tenement house on Szczepańska Street in Krakow.
1888
He married Maria Gralewska, daughter of a Krakow pharmacist. They lived together in the Gralewskis' tenement house on Szczepańska Street in Krakow.
1890
he started working on the painting "Melancholy", which initiated a symbolic breakthrough in his work
1892
he reconciled with Jan Matejko, who visited him in his studio on Łobzowska Street in Kraków

Hamlet of Poland - Portrait of Aleksander Wielopolski (1903). National Museum in Warsaw, Wikipedia
1893
second stay in Munich
1897
1898
1899
1912
He was elected rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and held this function until the outbreak of World War I. His opposition to the obligation to wear the Austrian representative uniform, which was for him the uniform of the invader, went down in history
1916
1921
1924
The 70th birthday of the painter and the 50th anniversary of Malczewski's creative work is officially celebrated. Jubilee exhibitions are held in Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Lviv.
1929
At the National Exhibition in Poznań he received the Grand Gold Medal. The painter slowly began to lose his sight and had to stop painting. Jacek Malczewski died on 8 October in Cracow. As he wished, he was buried in a Franciscan tertiary habit, in which he portrayed himself years ago. His ashes were deposited in the Crypt of Merit in the Cracow church on the Rock.
Interesting facts:
„Femme fatale”
Picasso
Narcissus
There was probably no artist in Poland who left so many self-portraits. His passion for presenting himself is astonishing, but also puzzling. Accused of extreme egotism and megalomania, suspected of transvestitism, Jacek Malczewski certainly had narcissistic tendencies, but he was also able to make a merciless self-irony, sharp mockery. He portrayed himself in armour and a woman's apron, in a beret, a hat, a renaissance mop, a wig, and even... with an iron cake on his head.
Wajda

Poisoned well with chimera (1905). Jacek Malczewski Museum in Radom, Wikipedia
About the Art of Jacek Malczewski:
Jacek Malczewski said: "If I wasn't Polish, I wouldn't be an artist." Jan Matejko wanted to have his spiritual and artistic heir in him, but Malczewski preferred to go his own way. However, he never forgot about master Jan's instructions.
"Melancholia" is a breakthrough picture for Jacek Malczewski. Thematically, it is the culmination of the previous threads and explorations, as the subtitle written at the back of the canvas says: "Prologue of seeing / The last century in Poland - Tout un siècle". Formally, it surprises us with its spontaneous dynamics, bizarre, abruptly abbreviated poses of figures, as well as intricate construction of space built from several points of view.

Portrait of Tadeusz Błotnicki with Medusa (1902). National Museum in Warsaw, Wikipedia

Christ in Emmaus (1909) Lviv Art Gallery, Wikipedia
Starting with "The Wrong Circle", Jacek Malczewski combines ancient, fairy-tale and historical themes in his paintings; he mixes classical myths with Polish folklore. In his paintings: "Angel and Shepherdess", "Angel, I'll Follow You" echoes the poems of Teofil Lenartowicz, which Malczewski valued and knew by heart, as well as other literary paintings (Sienkiewicz, Dygasiński), where the protagonist is a rural, unusual child, living his dreams and a sense of another, fantastic reality. Such a child - lonely and misunderstood by its surroundings - was for the symbolists a figure of the artist: a naive soul, unbiased, immersed in nature.
Jacek Malczewski is primarily a painter of a man, a human face. The images of friends, often eminent people of the epoch, are a pretext for him to build complex allegories.
There is no doubt that Artur Grottger (1837-1867) shaped Jacek Malczewski's artistic imagination. The painter valued him higher than Jan Matejko. From Grottger's works, Malczewski draws primarily on visions of Polish martyrdom and religious lyricism.
Jacek Malczewski w Muzeach::

Warsaw: National Museum - Historical Museum - Polish Army Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
„Thanatos” namalowany w latach 1898-1899
„Aniele pójdę za Tobą” namalowany w 1901
„Śmierć” namalowany w 1902
„Hamlet Polski (Portret Aleksandra Wielopolskiego) namalowany w 1903
„Portret Władysława Reymonta” namalowany w 1905
„Autoportret w zbroi” namalowany w 1914
„Święta Agnieszka” namalowany w latach 1920-1921

Wrong wheel (1895-1897). National Museum in Poznań, Wikipedia

Poznan: National Museum (Raczynski Foundation at the National Museum in Poznan). You can admire there, among others..:
„Melancholia” namalowany w latach 1890-1894
„Śmierć na etapie” namalowany w 1891
„W tumanie” namalowany w latach 1893-1894
„Błędne koło” namalowany w latach 1895-1897
„Portret Adama Asnyka z muzą” namalowany w latach 1895-1897
„Thanatos I” namalowany w 1898
„Portret własny z hiacyntem” namalowany w 1902
„Anioł i Pastuszek” namalowany w 1902
„Wiosna (Krajobraz z Tobiaszem)” namalowany w 1904
„Zatruta studnia” namalowany w 1905
„Zatruta studnia” namalowany w 1906
„Śmierć Ellenai” namalowany w 1907
„Eloe ze zwłokami Ellenai” namalowany w latach 1908-1909
„Święty Jan i Salome” namalowany w 1911
„Tobiasz i Parki” namalowany w 1912

Kielce: National Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
„Herkules na rozstajnych drogach (Portret Aleksandra Wielopolskiego)” namalowany w 1920

USA:
- Indiana: Uniwersytet Notre-Dame

Ukraine:
- Lwów – Lwowska Galeria Obrazów

Cracow - National Museum - Society of the Friends of Fine Arts - Wawel Royal Castle - Museum of the Jagiellonian University - Academy of Fine Arts. You can admire there, among others..:
„Śmierć Ellenai” namalowany w 1883
„Portret narzeczonej Marii Gralewskiej” namalowany w 1887
„Introdukcja (albo Malraczyk)” namalowany w 1890
„Wigilia na Syberii” namalowany w 1892
„Natchnienie malarza” namalowany w 1897
„Wytchnienie” namalowany w 1899
„Autoportret na tle Wisły” namalowany w 1901
„Nieznana nuta” namalowany w 1902
„Krajobraz znad Wisły” namalowany w 1904
„Autoportret w białym stroju” namalowany w 1914
„Autoportret” namalowany ok. 1917

Wrocław: National Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
„Anioł i Pastuszek” namalowany w 1903

Radom: District Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
„Zatruta studnia – Chimera” namalowany w 1905

Katowice: Silesian Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
„Pożegnanie z pracownią” namalowany w 1913

Other Polish cities:
- Bydgoszcz: Muzeum im. Leona Wyczółkowskiego
- Bytom: Muzeum Górnośląskie
- Gdańsk: Muzeum Narodowe – Muzeum Pomorskie
- Lublin: Muzeum Lubelskie
- Łódź: Muzeum Sztuki
- Oblęgorek: Muzeum Henryka Sienkiewicz (Oddział Muzeum Narodowego w Kielcach)
- Opole: Muzeum Śląska Opolskiego
- Płock: Muzeum Mazowieckie
- Szczecin: Muzeum Pomorza Zachodniego
- Toruń – Muzeum Okręgowe
Jacek Malczewski
(1854-1929)
- THE FATHER OF POLISH SYMBOLISM 100%
- MODERN ARTIST 100%
- COLORFUL NOVELTY 95%
- CINEMATOGRAPHY OF THE IMAGE 100%
- FOLKLORE AND ROMANTICISM 95%
