''Życie'' (, "Life") was an illustrated weekly established in 1897 and published in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

in the

Austrian partition The Austrian Partition ( pl, zabór austriacki) comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partition (politics), p ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. Founded by Ludwik Szczepański, with time it became one of the most popular Polish literary and artistic journals. Although short-lasting (it went bankrupt in 1900), it shaped an entire generation of Polish artists and art critics, notably those associated with the so-called

Young Poland Young Poland ( pl, Młoda Polska) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Pola ...

. Initially the weekly was focused on current news, politics, social and national matters in what was then the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

Galicia. Among its collaborators and correspondents in the early period were Socialist journalists

Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz Kazimierz Radosław Elehard baron Kelles-Krauz (22 March 1872 – 24 June 1905) was a Polish philosopher and sociologist, member of the Polish Socialist Party. He was one of the most significant Marxist thinkers at the end of the 19th century ...

Iza Moszczeńska Izabela (Iza) Moszczeńska or Moszczeńska-Rzepecka (28 October 1864 – 20 March 1941) was a Polish feminist journalist, translator and suffragette. She was the first Polish author to advocate sex education for both girls and boys. Life Iza Mo ...

and Wilhelm Feldman. The magazine was initially a commercial failure and failed to gain enough readership. Under such circumstances the title was bought by Ignacy Sewer-Maciejowski, who offered the job of editor in chief to

Stanisław Przybyszewski Stanisław Przybyszewski (; 7 May 1868 – 23 November 1927) was a Polish novelist, dramatist, and poet of the decadent naturalistic school. His drama is associated with the Symbolist movement. He wrote both in German and in Polish. Life Stanis� ...

, who refocused the magazine to art and literary matters. Since then ''Życie'' gained much popularity thanks to publishing literary works by some of the most renowned Polish writers of the epoch, including

Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (12 February 1865 – 18 January 1940) was a Polish Goral poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and writer. He was a member of the Young Poland movement. Life Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer was born in Ludźmierz in Pod ...

Gabriela Zapolska Maria Gabriela Stefania Korwin-Piotrowska (1857–1921), known as Gabriela Zapolska, was a Polish novelist, playwright, naturalist writer, feuilletonist, theatre critic and stage actress. Zapolska wrote 41 plays, 23 novels, 177 short stories, 25 ...

Jan Kasprowicz Jan Kasprowicz (12 December 1860 – 1 August 1926) was a poet, playwright, critic and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland. Biography Kasprowicz was born in the village of Szymborze (now part of Inowrocław) within the Prov ...

Maria Konopnicka Maria Konopnicka (; ; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic, and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including ''Jan Sawa''. She ...

Adolf Dygasiński Adolf Dygasiński (March 7, 1839, Niegosławice – June 3, 1902, Grodzisk Mazowiecki) was a Polish novelist, publicist and educator. In Polish literature, he was one of the leading representatives of Naturalism. Life During his literary career ...

and

Adam Asnyk Adam Asnyk (11 September 1838 – 2 August 1897), was a Polish poet and dramatist of the Positivist era. Born in Kalisz to a szlachta family, he was educated to become an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education at the Institute ...

Stanisław Wyspiański Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter and poet, as well as interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created a series of symbolic, national dramas within ...

became the new

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

of the magazine. Thanks to his efforts each edition was richly illustrated with reproductions of

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

paintings and prints The reformed ''Życie'' was soon turned into a bi-weekly published in large,

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

format, but on

coated paper Coated paper (also known as enamel paper, gloss paper, and thin paper) is paper that has been coated by a mixture of materials or a polymer to impart certain qualities to the paper, including weight, surface gloss, smoothness, or reduced ink absor ...

and in full colour. In addition to numerous reproductions and gravures published in every issue, the magazine also ordered a distinctive, elaborate

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

. Apart from the aforementioned authors, Wyspiański and Przybyszewski themselves, the ''Życie'' frequently also published texts by

Kazimiera Zawistowska Kazimiera Zawistowska ''de domo'' Jasieńska, pseudonym Ira, (1870–1902) was a Polish poet and translator. Zawistowska was an author of Modernism, modernist erotic and landscape poems related with mysticism, Symbolist poetry, symbolism and Par ...

Wincenty Brzozowski Wincenty is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Ryszard Wincenty Berwiński (1817–1879), Polish poet * Wincenty Budzyński (1815–1866), Polish politician agent and Polish–French chess master * Wincenty de Lesseur (born 1745) ...

Jerzy Żuławski Jerzy Żuławski (; 14 July 1874 – 9 August 1915) was a Polish literary figure, philosopher, translator, alpinist and patriot whose best-known work is the science-fiction epic, '' Trylogia Księżycowa'' (''The Lunar Trilogy''), written be ...

and Tadeusz Rittner. It also published many works of foreign literature, including French, Czech and Scandinavian. Among the most outstanding examples of ''Życies influence on contemporary Polish culture was the January 10th, 1899 issue that contained ''

Confiteor The (; so named from its first word, Latin for 'I confess' or 'I acknowledge') is one of the prayers that can be said during the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. It is also said in the Lutheran ...

'' by Stanisław Przybyszewski (a monumental essay on the role of artist) and a set of essays by Artur Górski under a common title ''

'' that gave the name to the entire modernist period in Polish literature, graphic art and music. Despite relatively high influence and readership, the ''Życie'' struggled constantly with Austro-Hungarian State

Censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

Office, which on numerous occasions ordered all the copies of several consecutive issues of the journal to be confiscated and destroyed. This resulted in financial difficulties and eventual bankruptcy in 1900.

References

Defunct magazines published in Poland Magazines established in 1897 Magazines disestablished in 1900 Mass media in Kraków Mass media in Lviv News magazines published in Poland Polish-language magazines Biweekly magazines Weekly magazines published in Poland {{poland-stub