Edward Wittig (September 20, 1879 – March 3, 1941) was a Polish
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
and university professor, notable for designing many
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
s in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
.
Born in Warsaw, Wittig went on to study
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
at the
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria.
History
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...
under the tutelage of J. Tautenheim between 1897 and 1900. He then moved to Paris, where he graduated from the
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...
. His tutor there was
Madeleine Jouvray, a pupil of
Auguste Rodin and
Lucien Schnegg. One of his friends during this period was
Magnus Enckell
Knut Magnus Enckell (9 November 1870 in Hamina – 27 November 1925 in Stockholm) was a Finnish symbolist painter. At first he painted with a subdued palette, but from 1902 onwards used increasingly bright colors. He was a leading member of the ...
. In 1909 he returned to Poland and settled in
Podolia
Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...
, in a residence owned by friends. There he prepared a number of sculptures, some of which were presented at the
Paris Salon. After 1903, he was invited to display his work at many top art galleries. His works were also featured at the
Zachęta
The Zachęta National Gallery of Art ( Polish: ''Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki'') is a contemporary art museum in the center of Warsaw, Poland. The Gallery's chief purpose is to present and support Polish contemporary art and artists. With numer ...
gallery in Warsaw (since 1900), at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts of
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 the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in 1920 and 1934.
Between 1915 and 1920, he was one of the professors of the
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie) is a public university of visual arts and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw ...
, and was subsequently a professor at the
Warsaw University of Science and Technology. Initially a student of Rodin, in the early 1900s Wittig developed his own style, with stronger contrasts and less symbolism. Finally, prior to World War I his style became heavily influenced by
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French Sculpture, sculptor, Painting, painter, and printmaking, printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford ...
and the so-called
New Classicism, which emphasised monumental, cubic, and rough silhouettes lacking detail. Among the first such sculptures is ''Eve'' of 1911, featured in both
Trocadéro
The Trocadéro (), site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It is also the name of the 1878 palace which was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Palai ...
garden in Paris and the
Park Ujazdowski
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...
in Warsaw.
In the 1920s, Wittig's style became very popular in Poland and abroad, mostly due to its
monumentalism
{{unreferenced, date=March 2020
Monumentalism defines the architectural tendencies that during the first half of the twentieth century had as their essential canon the inspiration and connection to classicism and neoclassicism. Critics divide thi ...
, which was a leading trend in Polish architecture of the 1920s and 1930s. As a result of which he went on to create numerous monuments. Among the most notable is the monuments to
Polish Military Organization
The Polish Military Organisation, PMO ( pl, Polska Organizacja Wojskowa, POW) was a secret military organization which formed during World War I (1914-1918). Józef Piłsudski founded the group in August 1914; it adopted the name ''POW'' in Novem ...
in front of the Zachęta. It was destroyed by the Germans prior to the
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...
, but reconstructed in 1999. Another notable work is the 1931 monument to World War I airmen. The Germans destroyed it by removing the sculpture from the top of its pedestal in 1940, but it was rebuilt in 1968 by
Alfred Jesion
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interl ...
. In 1932, Wittig also prepared the monument to
Juliusz Słowacki
Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the " Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of m ...
, which was not erected until 2001, well after his death in Warsaw in 1941, during the
Nazi and Soviet occupation of Poland.
References
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*
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External links
*
Hero of the Skies monument*
Ewa by Wittig with the picture of the Paris version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wittig, Edward
1879 births
1941 deaths
Polish sculptors
Polish male sculptors
Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Burials at Powązki Cemetery
Academic staff of the Warsaw University of Technology
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni
20th-century sculptors