The Great Painters
Leon Wyczółkowski
- master of speed
Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936)
He was an excellent portraitist, he painted for art's sake, but also to have something to eat - his paintings painted with even "factory" speed have become legendary. A great graphic artist and draftsman. He beautifully recreated Polish architecture and nature. His graphic works would have been enough for the whole and great work of another artist's life, and yet he left behind not only refined graphic works, but also plenty of paintings.
GRAPHIC
LANDSCAPIST
PIONEER OF IMPRESSIONISM IN POLISH PAINTING
EXTRAORDINARY COLOUR TALENT
TALENTED PORTRAITIST
LUMINIST
Leon Wyczółkowski
1852
On 11 April, in Huta Miastkowska near Garwolin, in the house of his grandfather, was born Leon Wyczółkowski, son of Mateusz (a petty nobleman and merchant of glass) and Antonina of Faliñska. The future painter went from Ostrów to a folk school in Kamionka near Lublin.
1861
the painter's father died
1863
He started his education in the gymnasium in Siedlce, but spent the period of the uprising in his grandparents' house. He spent his youthful years in Warsaw, very saddened by his mother's repeated unsuccessful marriage. After graduating from the gymnasium, the 17-year-old Leon Wyczółkowski entered the drawing class.
1869–1873
He studied in Warsaw's Drawing Class under Antoni Kamieński, Rafał Hadziewicz, and after 2 years became a pupil of Wojciech Gerson (an outstanding pedagogical talent). Leon Wyczółkowski received a silver medal for "Dying Gall".
1873
At the end of his studies he made a painting "St. Casimir and Dlugosz" (lost), which was purchased from an exhibition at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts - it was a kind of examination essay of the primus.
1875-1877
He went to Munich and studied in the studio of Hungarian painter Alexander Wagner at the Academy of Fine Arts there. Leon Wyczółkowski's contact with the atmosphere of the Munich market and, at the same time, the misery he experienced after the exhaustion of funds, resulted in two currents in his work: the actual work of the artist and the production dictated by a compromise with the audience - sometimes this paid pseudo-creation gained the means to enable him to create true creativity.
1877-79
He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow under the direction of Jana Matejki, and even lived in his house, he also made friends with another student of Master Jan - Jack Malczewski
1880
He lived in Lviv, where he met Adam Chmielowski. Under the influence of this artist, he created two paintings: "Girl and Basilisk" and "Podwawel Dragon". He also painted "Alina" and "Portrait of Dobrinski children".
1881
Leon Wyczółkowski came back to Warsaw, he was consumed by painting portraits and fashionable salon scenes
1883-1887
stay in Ukraine, where, among others, he undertook to restore a damaged painting Jana Matejko
1889
visited Paris (world exhibition), getting acquainted with Monet's works and Japanese art
1891
fishing paintings by Leon Wyczółkowski at the exhibition in Berlin won the favour of the critics
1895
on the proposal of Julian Fałat (1853-1929), the new rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, accepted the position of lecturer at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, moved permanently to Krakow and started to paint Wawel Castle
1896-1913
he has been to Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains many times
1904
he received a bronze medal at an exhibition in Saint-Louis
1914
he returned to Warsaw, where he spent a year unable to get through to Krakow
1915
1916
he was in the 6th Infantry Regiment in the camp near Warsaw
1922
The "Teka Białowieska" "Teka Białowieska" has appeared and Leon Wyczółkowski's many years' dream of owning a piece of land has come true. He donated to the Museum of Wielkopolska in Poznan his rich collection of paintings and decorative art, in return for which the Poznan National Department gave him Gosieradz near the Tuchola Forest. The artist was then associated with Wielkopolska and Pomerania, although he still had his studio in Krakow.
1926
Leon Wyczółkowski won the gold medal at the International Universal Exhibition in Paris
1927
1930
Warsaw City Prize
1931
1933
was appointed honorary professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow
1934
he was appointed professor of graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
1936
Interesting facts:
Wawel Treasury
"Skarbiec wawelski" (1907) by Leon Wyczółkowski is a unique cycle of 17 pastels, which shows 30 monuments stored in the treasury of the Cracow Cathedral and a sarcophagus from the confession of St Stanislaus standing in the middle of the cathedral nave.
Outside
Leon Wyczółkowski did not want to bend over to the forms of life of great magnate courts and whenever he could, he did not take part in them. Invited to the seat of the Branicki family, he did not accept hospitality in the palace: "great request - I would like to live on the manor house, so that I could paint peacefully".
Naked models
In 1898 Leon Wyczółkowski with the painting "Stańczyk" responded to slanders about revolutionary tendencies. On the painting, next to the chest on which the puppets, depicting famous Cracow personalities, sit Stańczyk, covering his face with his hand. In fact, Leon Wyczółkowski had quite bold pedagogical methods for those times - he introduced naked models into the studio of the Academy of Fine Arts...
Juliusz Kossak
Leon Wyczółkowski painted a pastel portrait Juliusz Kossak - a beautiful tribute paid to the man and the artist by a younger painter who has already reached full artistic maturity. He painted the portrait 2 days before Juliusz's death.
A record of speed
The artist, who was solicited by numerous clients for portraits, disregarding his paid production, once reached a record speed - he painted the financier Bloch at the request of his family within an hour and a half... He confessed passionately about one of the portraits, made to order from a photograph: "Even when I die, I'll be banging my heels out of spite that I painted it!"
425 works
On April 8th, 1937, Franciszek's wife, in accordance with her husband's last will, handed over to the city of Bydgoszcz 425 works, sketchbooks and personal memorabilia and studio equipment. The act of donation obliged Bydgoszcz to take care of the collection, popularise the works and commemorate anniversaries connected with the artist and take care of his grave.
Wife
Leon Wyczółkowski from 1915 was married to Franciszka Pankowska. He had no offspring.
Wyczółek
Friends have been talking to him and he is being shrewdly treated as a 'Wyczółek'.
Designations
Leon Wyczółkowski won many distinctions. Among them there are:
- Great Ribbon of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1934)
- Commander's Cross with the Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1928)
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (29 December 1921)
- Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (13 July 1921, as one of the first 15 persons awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta)
- Gold Cross of Merit (twice: 1930 and 11 June 1932)
- Złoty Wawrzyn Akademicki (5 November 1935)
About art of Leon Wyczółkowski:
He had the gift of painting pictures "one breath and one day". He worked very fast and his output is uneven, but he created spontaneously, simply from the hand, in one fell swoop, a lot of masterpieces in which the boldness and speed of decision goes for better with its certainty and striking accuracy, the freshness of experience with its strength and sometimes depth.
He was attracted by mixing techniques: pastel with watercolour, pastel with ink, watercolour with lithographic chalk, with tempera and ink, then again with gouache and chalk, finally ink with chalk...
– Leon Wyczółkowski
Leon Wyczółkowski was invited to the magnate's courts in Ukraine primarily as a portraitist. With these portraits, he paid for the opportunity to paint what took him deep into the country - a purifying and inspiring encounter with the Ukrainian people and nature. And it was exactly in this order - the people were in the first place, and they painted nature only as painting studios. Ukrainian paintings by Leon Wyczółkowski were inspired by Maximilian and Aleksandra Gierymski and Chełmoński and from social ideas of Chmielowski and Witkiewicz.
- Henryk Piątkowski, painter and critic
– Leon Wyczółkowskiin a letter to Feliks Jasieński
Leon Wyczółkowski in Museums:
Cracow: National Museum - Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow - Gallery of 19th century Polish Art in Sukiennice. You can admire there, among others:
- „Rybak” namalowany w 1891
- „Rybak z siecią” namalowany w 1891
- „Orka na Ukrainie” namalowany w 1892
- „Druid skamieniały” namalowany w 1892
- „Głowa Chrystusa” namalowany w 1882–1883
- „Studium do gry w krokieta” namalowany w 1892
- „Kopanie buraków” namalowany w 1893
- „Gra w krykieta” namalowany w 1895
- „Krucyfiks wawelski” namalowany w 1896
- „Japonka” namalowany w 1897
- „Stańczyk” namalowany w 1898
- „Portret Jana Kasprowicza” namalowany w 1898
- „Portret Ireny Solskiej” namalowany w 1899
- „Portret Juliusza Kossaka” namalowany w 1900
- „Portret Józefa Chełmońskiego” namalowany w 1900
- „Portret Konstantego Laszczki” namalowany w 1902
- „Portret Natalii Siennickiej-Duninowej” namalowany w 1903
- „Mnich nad Morskim Okiem” namalowany w 1904
- „Motyw z Grenady” namalowany w 1905
- „Karol Estreicher w loży na Weselu Wyspiańskiego” namalowany w 1905-1906
- „Akt” namalowany w 1908
- „Krajobraz morski z Połągi” namalowany w 1908
- „Białe róże” namalowany w 1909
- „Portret Józefa Chełmońskiego” namalowany w 1910
- „Krajobraz z Jaremcza” namalowany w 1910
- „Rybacy huculscy” namalowany w 1910
- „Karczma w Suczawie” namalowany w 1910
- „Portret Feliksa Mangghi Jasieńskiego” namalowany w 1911
- „Krajobraz ukraiński” namalowany w 1911
- „Kurza Stopka” namalowany ok. 1911-1912
- „Wawel od Stradomia” namalowany ok. 1911-1912
- „Most Dębnicki w Krakowie – zimą” namalowany w 1914
- „Attyka Kamienicy Celejowskiej w Kazimierzu nad Wisłą” namalowany w 1918
- „Dąb pośród młodych drzew” namalowany w 1921
- „Portret Erazma Barącza” namalowany w 1924
- „Gra w krokieta” bez daty
- „Portret Lucjana Rydla” bez daty
- „Ukrzyżowanie z kościoła św. Marka w Krakowie” bez daty
Other Polish cities:
- Bydgoszcz: Muzeum Okręgowe. Można tam podziwiać m. in.:
- „Kurhan na Ukrainie” namalowany w 1894
- „Wejście do kaplicy Zygmuntowskiej” namalowany w 1920
- „Arrasy w katedrze wawelskiej” namalowany w 1921
- „Kościół Mariacki z widokiem Krakowa” namalowany w 1924
- „Absyda kościoła Mariackiego w Krakowie” namalowany w 1924
- „Dęby rogalińskie – zimą” namalowany w 1925
- „Cis w rezerwacie Wierzchlesie” namalowany w 1930
- „Świerk w słońcu” namalowany w 1931
- „Wiosna” namalowany w 1933
- „Kościół w Świeciu w czasie powodzi” bez daty
- „Kościół św. Jana w Toruniu” bez daty
- Bytom: Muzeum Górnośląskie. Można tam podziwiać m. in.:
- „Welon” namalowany w 1885
- „Portret Idalii Pawlikowskiej” namalowany w 1902
- Katowice: Muzeum Śląskie:
- „Siewca” namalowany w 1896
- „Martwa natura z rybami” namalowany w 1911
- Poznań: National Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
- „Dziady” namalowany w 1896
- „Autoportret w kapeluszu” namalowany w 1896
- „Pałac Działyńskich w Poznaniu” namalowany w 1929
- „Ratusz w Poznaniu” namalowany w 1929
- „Buraki” bez daty
Warsaw: National Museum. You can admire there, among others..:
- „Portret babki artysty Falińskiej” namalowany w 1880
- „Portret mężczyzny z binoklami” namalowany w 1880
- „Portret kobiety” namalowany w 1880
- „Portret młodej kobiety w pracowni malarza” namalowany w 1883
- „Ujrzałem raz…” namalowany w 1884
- „W buduarze” namalowany w 1885
- „Wesołe pacholęta” namalowany w 1891
- „Rybacy brodzący” namalowany w 1891
- „Portret prof. Ludwika Rydygiera z asystentami” namalowany w 1897
- „Portret Feliksa Jasieńskiego” namalowany w 1903
- „Autoportret” namalowany w 1904
- „Woły” namalowany w 1904
- „Martwa natura z wazą i chińskim parawanem” namalowany w 1905
- „Skarbiec wawelski” namalowany w 1907
- „Szymon Tatar” namalowany w 1907
- „Sarkofag św. Stanisława w katedrze Wawelskiej” namalowany w 1907
- „Stóg na polu” namalowany w 1907
- „Krajobraz litewski namalowany w 1907
- „Las” namalowany w 1907
- „Kapliczka” namalowany w 1907
- „Sosny z Połągi” namalowany w 1908
- „Wieża ratuszowa w Gdańsku” namalowany w 1909
- „Kościół Mariacki w Gdańsku” namalowany w 1909
- „W porcie gdańskim” namalowany w 1909
- „Żuraw nad Motławą” namalowany w 1909
- „Hucuł z sakiem” namalowany w 1910
- „Cerkiew w Worochcie” namalowany w 1910
- „Wawel od strony Zwierzyńca – zimą” namalowany w 1910
- „Autoportret w chińskim kaftanie” namalowany w 1911
- „Kaplica Zygmuntowska z okna Zamkowego” namalowany ok. 1911-1912
- „Nad rzeką” namalowany w 1912
- „Koneła” namalowany w 1912
- „Stary Ukrainiec splatający sieć” namalowany w 1912
- „Martwa natura z pomarańczami” namalowany w 1912
- „Wiatraki” namalowany w 1912
- „Młocka na Ukrainie” namalowany w 1912
- „Dachy staromiejskie w Warszawie” namalowany w 1916
- „Syrenka na rynku staromiejskim w Warszawie” namalowany w 1916
- „Brama Krakowska w Lublinie” namalowany ok. 1918-1919
- „Brama Krakowska w Lublinie o zmierzchu – pod śniegiem” namalowany 1918-1919
- „Kościół Dominikanów w Lublinie” namalowany ok. 1918-1919
- „Kościół św. Wojciecha w Lublinie” – zadymce” namalowany ok. 1918-1919
- „Dzielnica żydowska w Lublinie” namalowany ok. 1918-1919
- „Brama Grodzka w Lublinie” namalowany ok. 1918-1919
- „Portret Tadeusza Żuk-Skarszewskiego” namalowany w 1919
- „Spichlerz Ulanowskich w Kazimierzu nad Wisłą” namalowany w 1920
- „Kamienica Przybyłów w Kazimierzu nad Wisłą” namalowany w 1921
- „Dęby białowieskie” namalowany w 1922
- „Sosny białowieskie” namalowany w 1922
- „Stary dąb” namalowany w 1922
- „Suche świerki z puszczy” namalowany w 1922
- „Zawieja w puszczy” namalowany w 1922
- „Peonie w krysztale” namalowany w 1922
- „Martwa natura z karafką” namalowany w 1923
- „Prymule” namalowany w 1923
- „Ośnieżone świerki gościeradzkie z krukiem w przelocie” namalowany w 1923
- „Kościół św. Piotra w Krakowie” namalowany w 1924
- „Świerki z suchymi gałęziami” namalowany w 1924
- „Sędzielina” namalowany w 1924
- „Dęby w słońcu” namalowany w 1924
- „Anemony” namalowany w 1925
- „Dęby rogalińskie pod śniegiem” namalowany w 1926
- „Okiść” namalowany w 1926
- „Absyda kościoła Mariackiego w Krakowie – pod śniegiem” namalowany ok. 1926-1927
- „Absyda kościoła Mariackiego o świcie” namalowany ok. 1926-1927
- „Sad” namalowany w 1927
- „Świerk w słońcu” namalowany w 1929
- „Suchar na tle kwitnących drzew” namalowany w 1933
- „Kwitnąca grusza Małgorzatka” namalowany w 1933
- „Studium Włoszki” bez daty
- „Portret Antoniego Kurzawy” bez daty
- „Kielich biskupa Maciejowskiego” bez daty
- „Teatr w Łazienkach” bez daty
Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936)
- GRAPHIC 100%
- A FORERUNNER OF IMPRESSIONISM IN POLISH PAINTING: 100%
- LANDSCAPIST 100%
- EXTRAORDINARY COLOUR TALENT 100%
- LUMINIST 100%
