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Jan Matejko Polish Painter, 1838-1893 He studied from 1852 to 1858 at the School of Fine Arts in Krakew and, during this time, started exhibiting historical paintings with the Society of Friends of the Fine Arts there (e.g. Sigismund I Bestowing Nobility on the Professors of the University of Krakew in 1535 (1858; Krakew, Jagiellonian U., Mus. F.A.). After studying in Munich (1859) under the history painter Hermann Anschetz (1802-80) and then briefly and less successfully in Vienna, Matejko returned to Krak?w, where he was based for the rest of his life. In 1860 Matejko issued an illustrated album, Ubiory w Polsce (later editions 1875 and 1901), a project reflecting his intense interest in historical records of all kinds and his desire to promote such interest among the Polish people in an effort to intensify their patriotic feelings. This role first became widely associated with Matejko with his painting of Stanczyk (1862; Warsaw, N. Mus.), the court jester to King Sigismund I (1437-1548), to whom Matejko gave his own features. The jester is presented as a symbol of the nation's conscience
base painting Stańczyk by Jan MatejkoThe jester is the only person at a royal ball who is troubled by the news that the Russians have capturedSmolensk. This event happened in 1514. Stańczyk was one of Jan Matejko’s favorite historical figures and he appears on a number of his paintings. Matejko, giving the jester his own facial features, created the popular image of Stańczyk that is familiar to most modern Poles. The painter always depicted Stańczyk with a very concerned and reflective look on his face, in stark contrast to his cap 'n bellsand other jester's gear. Matejko's vision of Stańczyk influenced the way other artists, such as Leon Wyczółkowski, later depicted the jester.
JacekMalczewski(Radom July 15, 1854 - Cracow October 8, 1929) Jacek Malczewski made his only statement in painting; his immensely rich oeuvre remains ever intriguing and artistically uneven. The first stage was the so-called Siberian cycle, illustrating the torment of Polish deportees, portrayed naturalistically or filtered through the mystical poetry of Slowacki. During the Young Poland period, Malczewski created his own unique symbolic vocabulary in which corporeal and robust figures of chimeras, fauns, angels, and water sprites appear both in allegorical portraits, innumerable costume-clad self-portraits, landscapes, genre and religious scenes and, finally, in compositions which do not correspond to any thematic conventions. The art of Malczewski is dominated distinctly by two motifs, recurring and assorted painterly embodiments: the vocation of art and the artist, and death, under the antique form of Thanatos. The Malczewski oeuvre is the most vivid example of an intermingling of folk motifs and an anti-classical, Dionysian vision of antiquity, typical for Polish modernism; the artist achieved a peculiar polonisation of ancient mythology, not only by placing chimeras and fauns in a Polish landscape but also within an historical-national context, which ultimately proved to be regarded as the most important by this pupil of Matejko.
base painting „Zatruta studnia I” by Jacek Malczewski
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885 - 1939) Painter,art theorist,writer, playwright, philosopher. Son of Stanislaw Witkiewicz - painter and art theorist.Studied in Fine Art Academy in Cracow at Josef Mehoffer (1905-1909), made several trips to Italy, France and Germany during this period. In 1914 he took part in the expedition to Australia led by the famous ethnographer Bronislaw Malinowski.Years 1914-1918 spent in St.Petersburg serving in Russian Army as an officer. From this period come the first pastel works - portraits and expressionist compositions.In the years 1918-1924 Witkiewicz joined the group "Formists", creating oil compositions according to invented by himself theory of "pure form". After 1924 he limited his work to "Portrait manufacture of S.I.Witkiewicz" - creating pastel portraits of 5 basic types: A,B,C,D. He used to portrait famous people of the time.In 1928-1932 Witkiewicz experimented with drug effect to painting - using drugs like cocaine or peyotl on himself and painting. His works of this period often bear artist's mention about the kind and dose of drugs he was using when working at the painting.
base painting „Stworzenie świata” (World’screation) by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz
