Witold Wojtkiewicz Polish Painter photographic self-portrait

Witold Wojtkiewicz (29 December 1879,

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 ...

– 14 June 1909, Warsaw) was a Polish painter, illustrator and printmaker. Although generally considered an

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

, some of his works are precursors of

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Biography

He came from a family of eleven children. His father was the chief cashier at

Bank Handlowy Bank Handlowy w Warszawie (BHW) or Citi Handlowy is a Polish bank based in Warsaw, established in 1870. It is one of the oldest banks in Poland and Europe. It is the 10th largest bank in Poland in terms of assets, and 18th in terms of number of out ...

and did not support Witold's desire to become an artist. Nevertheless, he was able to enroll at the Warsaw school of drawing, where he studied with Jan Kauzik. After a brief attempt to study at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

, he continued at the

Kraków Academy of Fine Arts The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...

from 1903 to 1904 with

Leon Wyczółkowski Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (; 24 April 1852 – 27 December 1936) was one of the leading Painting, painters of the Young Poland movement, as well as the principal representative of Polish Realism (arts), Realism in art of Polish culture in the Inter ...

; supporting himself by doing illustrations for the short-lived satirical magazine, ''Liberum Veto''.Brief biography
@ Culture.pl Witold Wojtkiewicz - Manifestacja 1905

In 1905, he was a witness to the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

, and made some sketches of the event that were widely circulated. Later that year, he became part of the "Grupa Pięciu" (Group of Five), with

Leopold Gottlieb Leopold Gottlieb (1879, Drohobycz, Partitioned Poland – Paris, 1934) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish-Jewish modernist Painting, painter. His brother Maurycy Gottlieb, also a painter, died before Leopold was born. Career Leopold Go ...

Wlastimil Hofman Wlastimil Hofman (27 April 1881 – 6 March 1970) was a Polish painter, one of the more popular painters of the interwar and postwar years. Life Hofman was born Vlastimil Hofmann in Prague to Ferdinand Hofmann, a Czech, and Teofila Muzyk Terlec ...

, and Jan Rembowski.Biographical notes
@ Pinakoteka. Three years later, he joined the

Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" The Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" ( pl, Towarzystwo Artystów Polskich "Sztuka"; Sztuka means Art in Polish, artyzm means artistic abilities) founded in 1897 in Kraków, was a gathering of prominent Polish visual artists from around the turn o ...

and began to exhibit widely throughout Poland and Austria. He also collaborated with members of the

Zielony Balonik Zielony Balonik (literally, ''the Green Balloon'') was a popular literary cabaret founded in Kraków by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the Partitions of Poland. The venue was a gourmet restaurant of Apolinary J. Mic ...

cabaret to create watercolors that may still be seen at the

Jama Michalika Jama Michalika is a popular café with history spanning over a hundred years. It is located at Floriańska Street in Kraków, the capital of the Lesser Poland region. Jama Michalika (lit. Michalik's Den in Polish) is one of the oldest Kraków cafe ...

café, and created illustrations for works by his friend, the writer , as well as numerous

vignettes Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

and illuminated letters for books and postcards. At an exhibition in Berlin in 1906, he attracted the attention of

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

, who arranged for a showing in 1907 at the in Paris and wrote the introduction to the catalog. By this time his style had darkened due to the suffering from an incurable, congenital heart defect, which led to his death at the age of twenty-nine. At his mother's request, his diary was placed in the coffin with his remains. A major retrospective was held in 1976 at the

National Museum, Krakow National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Selected paintings

File:Wojtkiewicz Abduction of the King's daughter.jpg, ''Abduction of the
King's Daughter'',

National Museum, Warsaw The National Museum in Warsaw ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), popularly abbreviated as MNW, is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art ( Eg ...

File:Wojtkiewicz Witold, Popielec.jpg, ''Mediations, Ash Wednesday'',

National Museum, Kraków The National Museum in Kraków ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie), popularly abbreviated as MNK, is the largest museum in Poland, and the main branch of Poland's National Museum, which has several independent branches with permanent collections arou ...

File:Wojtkiewicz Marionettes.jpg, ''Marionettes'',

File:Wojtkiewicz Tillage.jpg, ''Ploughing'',

References

External links

Arcadja Auctions: More works by Wojtkiewicz."Recovery of a Painting by Wojtkiewicz, Lost During the War"
@ ''

Nowy Dziennik ''Nowy Dziennik'' (, in Polish: ''The New Daily'', in reference to New York), is a Polish-language newspaper, formerly a daily with the English subtitle ''Polish Daily News'', and now a weekly subtitled ''POLISH WEEKLY'', published in New York Cit ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wojtkiewicz, Witold 1879 births 1909 deaths 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Artists from Warsaw Postcard artists Polish illustrators Polish male painters

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links