The Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts (, TPSP) is a

social group In the social sciences, a social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. F ...

of artists, artisans and their supporters founded in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

in 1854, under the Austrian Partition of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Today, the Society operates from the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

Palace of Art erected by its own members in 1901 at the Szczepański Square in

Kraków Old Town Kraków Old Town is the historic central area of Kraków, Poland.Ingrid GustafsonLet's Go: Eastern Europe Published by Macmillan, page 444. Let's Go Publications, 2008. It is one of the most famous old areas in Poland today and was the centre ...

. After major renovations of the Palace in 1996, the Society organizes local and international art exhibits and numerous other art initiatives.

History

The nonprofit Society of Friends of Fine Arts was established in Kraków in 1854 to promote Polish art and culture, against the foreign rulership of Austria-Hungary. Its initiator, Walery Wielogłowski (1805-1865), was an emigrant activist and publisher living in Cracow since 1848. TPSP's goal was to "shape the heart and disposition of the spirit towards the concept of absolute beauty, thereby developing in the nation a sense of order and harmony, without which true education, or civilization, is almost impossible." The Society's mode of operation was based on the experiences of German and Austrian Kunstvereines - art societies. In its early years, TPSP focused on the presentation of works by Polish artists and representatives of European art, whose works were borrowed from societies in Vienna, Prague, Pest, Dresden, Munich, or Mannheim. TPSP's inaugural exhibition took place at the turn of 1854 and 1855. The Society had a gallery at the Larisch's Palace, and later in Sukiennice, exhibiting

Jan Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Polish painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works include large scale ...

, among others. Four decades after its original founding, using public donations and funds acquired from the sale of

Artur Grottger Artur Grottger (11 November 1837 – 13 December 1867) was a Polish Romantic painter and graphic artist, one of the most prominent artists of the mid 19th century under the partitions of Poland, despite a life cut short by incurable illness. B ...

, on 26 June 1899 the Society began construction of its own Palace of Art along the

Planty Park Planty may refer to: * Planty Park, a city park in Kraków, Poland * Planty, Podlaskie Voivodeship (north-east Poland) * Planty, Aube, France {{geodis