Józef Szermentowski, or Szermętowski (16 February 1833 – 6 September 1876), was a Polish landscape painter, influenced by the

Barbizon School The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

Biography

At first, for reasons that are unclear, he lived with his aunt, the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

of the local monastery. It was there he first displayed a talent for drawing. Later, he was noticed by the art collector, and went to live with him in

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

.Brief biography
@ Antyki-Polska. It was there he met

Franciszek Kostrzewski Franciszek Kostrzewski (19 April 1826, Warsaw – 30 September 1911, Warsaw) was a Polish illustrator, cartoonist, caricaturist, comics artist Chrystian Breslauer Chrystian Breslauer (born 12 January 1802 in Warsaw; died there 10 August 1882) was a Polish painter and art pedagogue. Chrystian Breslauer studied in Berlin and Düsseldorf, where he was taught by Johann Wilhelm Schrirmer. He took numerous art ...

and

Juliusz Kossak Juliusz Fortunat Kossak (Nowy Wiśnicz, 15 December 1824 – 3 February 1899, Kraków) was an Austrian Polish historical painter and master illustrator who specialized in battle scenes, military portraits and horses. He was the progenitor of an ...

.Brief biography and appreciation
by Ewa Micke-Broniarek @ Culture.pl. He also took private lessons with

Wojciech Gerson Wojciech Gerson (; July 1, 1831 – February 25, 1901) was a leading Polish people, Polish Painting, painter of the mid-19th century, and one of the foremost representatives of the Polish school of Realism (arts), Realism during the foreign Part ...

. After 1856, he lived in

Volyn Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...

, where he painted en plein aire. He also worked for a steamship company, providing decorations for their passenger ships and participated in the first National Exhibition of Fine Arts, in Warsaw. In 1860, he received a scholarship to study in Paris. Shortly after arriving, he became a friend of

Cyprian Kamil Norwid Cyprian Kamil Norwid, a.k.a. Cyprian Konstanty Norwid (; 24 September 1821 – 23 May 1883), was a nationally esteemed Polish poet, dramatist, painter, and sculptor. He was born in the Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw. One of hi ...

, who helped him get commissions. Two years later, his health began to decline but, having become financially successful he was able to travel to Switzerland for rest and recreation. In 1868, he returned to Poland, where he set up a studio in the

Tatras The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the highe ...

. After failing to obtain a professorship at the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute o ...

in Krakow, he decided to go back to Paris. He was soon married and had a son, but fell into a depression when the child died. They remained in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and the

Commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

but, without any patrons, he soon began to suffer financially and his health worsened due to hunger and various other hardships. Although he had another son and won a medal at an exhibition in London, he never recovered, physically or financially, which led to his premature death, at the age of forty-three.

Selected paintings

File:Biednemu wiatr w oczy by Jozef Szermentowski.jpg, The Wind in Your Eyes Droga do wsi by Józef Szermentowski.jpg, Road to the Village File:Szermentowski Ploughman's rest.jpg, The Ploughman's Rest File:Pieniny by Józef Szermentowski.jpg, The

Pieniny The Pieniny (sometimes also the PieninsSzafer, Władysław. 2013. ''The Vegetation of Poland: International Series of Monographs in Pure and Applied Biology''. Warsaw: Pergamon Press, pp. 156, 388. or the Pienin Mountains,Griffiths, Graham C. D. ...

Mountains W parku by Józef Szermentowski.jpg, In the Park

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szermentowski, Jozef 1833 births 1876 deaths 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists Polish landscape painters Polish emigrants to France People from Kielce County Polish male painters