Stanisław Kajetan Przespolewski (8 April 1910 – 8 June 1989) was a

Polish painter Note: Names that cannot be confirmed in Wikipedia database nor through given sources are subject to removal. If you would like to add a new name please consider writing about the artist first. ''This is an alphabetical listing of Poland, Polish ...

. Originally based in

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 ...

, he moved to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and later worked in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He became known for his large series of pencil portraits of Polish soldiers in the Second World War. Three of these portraits are kept at the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum. Rijksprentenkabinet (Dutch language)
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Biography

Education

Before the Second World War, Przespolewski had his art education 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 ...

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 ...

, where his teachers included

Stefan Filipkiewicz Stefan Filipkiewicz (28 July 1879, Tarnów, Austria-Hungary–23 August 1944, Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, Nazi Germany) was a Polish painter and designer, notable for his landscapes inspired by the Young Poland movement. He was a leadin ...

(1931) and Władysław Jarocki (1932). He went on to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule at Vienna, the art school that rejected Adolf Hitler 20 years earlier, and also in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

, Poland.

World War II

After leaving Poland in 1939 and a short period in France in 1940, Przespolewski moved to the United Kingdom, where he was stationed for some time with the

Polish Armed Forces in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; thes ...

Biggar, Scotland Biggar ( gd, Bigear ) is a town and former burgh in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, in the Southern Uplands near the River Clyde on the A702. The closest towns are Lanark and Peebles. Details The town was once served by the Symington, Biggar a ...

. In Scotland, he met

Józef Sękalski Józef Sękalski (1904–1972), also known as Josef Sekalski and Juozapas Senkalskis, was a Polish painter, printer, etcher and illustrator who lived and worked in Scotland. Biography Sękalski was born in Turek, central Poland. He joined the Po ...

and Roberta Hodges in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, Fife. At her studio in the attic of The Bell Rock House, he painted a number of portraits, nudes, still lives and landscapes. From 1944 onwards he was one of the Polish combatants in the

1st Polish Armoured Division The Polish 1st Armoured Division (Polish ''1 Dywizja Pancerna'') was an armoured division of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. Created in February 1942 at Duns in Scotland, it was commanded by Major General Stanisław Macze ...

and advanced from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

in May 1945. File:Polish_soldier_Skp0010tn.jpg File:Polish_soldier_Skp0001b-tn.jpg File:Polish_officer_Skp0015tn.jpg Three drawings of Polish soldiers in exile in Britain in 1943.

After the war

In 1949 he married the Belgian-Dutch artist Jeanne Prisse (1921–2008). They moved to

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

(near Manchester, England) where he had a number of odd jobs and appointments as designer for the ceramic industries. Later they moved to

Ulvenhout Ulvenhout is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Breda. The village was divided by the A58 motorway. The southern part belongs to the municipality of Alphen-Chaam and is called Ulvenhout AC. H ...

, Netherlands. Here he had his own studio where he painted, made various designs for theatre décors and produced pottery. This was also the place where he taught art to small groups of pupils.

References

External links

Site with portraits of Polish soldiers (part 1)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Przespolewski, Stanislaw 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni 1910 births 1989 deaths Polish military personnel of World War II Polish male painters Polish emigrants to the Netherlands