''Życie'' (, "Life") was an illustrated weekly established in 1897 and published 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 ...

and

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

in 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 ...

. Founded by Ludwik Szczepański, with time it became one of the most popular Polish literary and artistic journals. Although short-lasting (it went bankrupt in 1900), it shaped an entire generation of Polish artists and art critics, notably those associated with the so-called

Young Poland Young Poland ( ) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Poland promoted tre ...

. Initially the weekly was focused on current news, politics, social and national matters in what was then the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

Galicia. Among its collaborators and correspondents in the early period were Socialist journalists Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz, Iza Moszczeńska and Wilhelm Feldman. The magazine was initially a commercial failure and failed to gain enough readership. Under such circumstances the title was bought by Ignacy Sewer-Maciejowski, who offered the job of editor in chief to

Stanisław Przybyszewski Stanisław Przybyszewski (; 7 May 1868 – 23 November 1927) was a Polish novelist, dramatist, and poet of the decadent naturalistic school. His drama is associated with the Symbolist movement. He wrote both in Polish and in German. Life Stani ...

, who refocused the magazine to art and literary matters. Since then ''Życie'' gained much popularity thanks to publishing literary works by some of the most renowned Polish writers of the epoch, including

Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (12 February 1865 – 18 January 1940) was a Polish Goral poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and writer. He was a member of the Young Poland movement. Life Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer was born in Ludźmierz in Po ...

Gabriela Zapolska Maria Gabriela Stefania Korwin-Piotrowska (1857–1921), known as Gabriela Zapolska, was a Polish novelist, playwright, naturalist writer, feuilletonist, theatre critic and stage actress. Zapolska wrote 41 plays, 23 novels, 177 short stories, 25 ...

, Jan Kasprowicz,

Maria Konopnicka Maria Konopnicka (; ; 23 May 1842 – 8 October 1910) was a Polish people, Polish poet, novelist, children's writer, translator, journalist, critic and activist for women's rights and for Polish independence. She used pseudonyms, including ''Jan ...

, Adolf Dygasiński and

Adam Asnyk Adam Asnyk (11 September 1838 – 2 August 1897), was a Polish poet and dramatist of the Positivist era. Life and work Born in Kalisz to a szlachta family, he was educated to become an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education ...

Stanisław Wyspiański Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański (; 15 January 1869 – 28 November 1907) was a Polish playwright, painter, poet, and interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created symbolic national dramas accordant with the artisti ...

became the new

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

of the magazine. Thanks to his efforts each edition was richly illustrated with reproductions of

symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

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 ...

paintings and prints The reformed ''Życie'' was soon turned into a bi-weekly published in large,

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

format, but on

coated paper Coated paper (also known as enamel paper, gloss paper, and thin paper) is paper that has been coated with a mixture of materials or a polymer to impart certain qualities to the paper, including weight, surface gloss, smoothness, or reduced ink ab ...

and in full colour. In addition to numerous reproductions and gravures published in every issue, the magazine also ordered a distinctive, elaborate

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

. Apart from the aforementioned authors, Wyspiański and Przybyszewski themselves, the ''Życie'' frequently also published texts by

Kazimiera Zawistowska Kazimiera Zawistowska '' de domo'' Jasieńska, pseudonym Ira, (1870–1902) was a Polish poet and translator. Zawistowska was an author of modernist erotic and landscape poems related with mysticism, symbolism and Parnassianism. She published he ...

, Wincenty Brzozowski,

Jerzy Żuławski Jerzy Żuławski (; 14 July 1874 – 9 August 1915) was a Polish literary figure, philosopher, translator, Alpinism, alpinist and patriot whose best-known work is the science fiction, science-fiction epic, ''Trylogia Księżycowa'' (''The Lun ...

and Tadeusz Rittner. It also published many works of foreign literature, including French, Czech and Scandinavian. Among the most outstanding examples of ''Życies influence on contemporary Polish culture was the January 10th, 1899 issue that contained ''

Confiteor The (; so named from its first word, Latin for 'I confess' or 'I acknowledge') is one of the prayers that can be said during the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. It is also said in the Luther ...

'' by Stanisław Przybyszewski (a monumental essay on the role of artist) and a set of essays by Artur Górski under a common title ''

'' that gave the name to the entire modernist period in Polish literature, graphic art and music. Despite relatively high influence and readership, the ''Życie'' struggled constantly with Austro-Hungarian State

Censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

Office, which on numerous occasions ordered all the copies of several consecutive issues of the journal to be confiscated and destroyed. This resulted in financial difficulties and eventual bankruptcy in 1900.

References

Defunct magazines published in Poland Magazines established in 1897 Magazines disestablished in 1900 Mass media in Kraków Mass media in Lviv News magazines published in Poland Polish-language magazines Biweekly magazines Weekly magazines published in Poland {{poland-mag-stub