Józef Marian Chełmoński (7 November 1849 – 6 April 1914) was a Polish painter of the realist school with roots in the historical and social context of the late Romantic period in partitioned Poland. He is famous for monumental paintings now at the Sukiennice National Art Gallery 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 at the MNW in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

.Profile of Józef Chełmoński
at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute ''Culture.pl'' website.

Life

Chełmoński was born in the village of Boczki near

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

in central

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

under the Russian military control. His first drawing teacher was his father Józef Adam (a small leaseholder and administrator of Boczki village). His mother was Izabela née Łoskowska. After finishing high school in

, Józef studied in Warsaw Drawing Class (1867–1871) and took private lessons from

Wojciech Gerson Wojciech Gerson (; 1 July 1831 – 25 February 1901) was a Polish painter, educator, architect and art critic who was one of the foremost representatives of the Polish school of Realism during the foreign Partitions of Poland. He served as long ...

. From 1871 to 1874 Chełmoński lived in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He worked with Polish painters assembled around Jozef Brandt and Maksymilian Gierymski. There, he also studied for a few months at the academy of H. Anschutz and A. Strahuber. In 1872 and 1874 Chełmoński visited the Polish Territories (Poland, as an independent country, did not exist during this time), Tatra Mountains and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. His first paintings were done under the influence of Gerson. The works that followed were landscapes and villages. In 1875 Chełmoński went to Paris, where he had many important exhibitions and became known to the art scene. With many orders, the artistic level of his paintings decreased. From 1878 to 1887 Chełmoński visited

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 ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. In 1887 he returned to Poland and in 1889 settled in the village of Kuklówka Zarzeczna. Contact with his homeland and nature are qualities revealed in his artworks. From that time are the best liked, or the most beloved of Chełmoński's paintings are paintings such as ''Partridge on the Snow'', ''The Storks'' or ''Before Thunderstorm''. Chełmoński represented the trend in art called "Polish Patriotic Painting". He died in Kuklówka near Grodzisk Mazowiecki in 1914.

Selected works

References

Józef Chełmoński
(archived 15 February 2004)

Bibliography

* Maciej Masłowski: Malarski żywot Józefa Chełmońskiego (Józef Chełmoński Painter's Life),Warsaw 1965, ed. "PIW" (ed.National Publishing Institute, 2nd edition - 1972); * Maciej Masłowski: Józef Chełmoński, Warsaw 1973, ed. „Auriga” - Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe (Art and Film Publishers).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chelmonski, Jozef 1849 births 1914 deaths Artists from Congress Poland Painters from the Russian Empire 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Equine artists Polish male painters