Józef Rapacki (19 March 1871,

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 ...

– 31 January 1929, Olszanka) was a Polish painter, watercolorist and graphic designer; best known for his nostalgic landscapes of

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

Biography

He was born to a theatrical family; son of the actor, Wincenty Rapacki. His brother and sister also became actors.Brief biography
@ the Museum of Western Mazovia. Jerzy Leszczyński, the actor and director, was his nephew. He decided on a different course and, at the age of fourteen, enrolled in a drawing class taught by

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 ...

. After completing Gerson's course, he entered the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Izydor Jabłoński,

Florian Cynk Florian Stanisław Cynk (3 May 1838 – 10 October 1912) was a Polish painter, notably of religious subjects, and a prominent art teacher. He also worked as an illustrator. Biography He was born in Kraków and began his studies at the Academ ...

and .Brief biography
@ Internetowy Polski Słownik Biograficzny. He initially painted landscapes, cityscapes and

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

scenes. After a few more lessons with Gerson, he went to Munich in 1889, where he studied with the portrait painter Conrad Fehr for two years and was influenced by the Munich School. He returned to Warsaw, but continued to travel, making a major study trip to Italy around 1898. At this time, he began providing drawings for several periodicals in Warsaw, including the famous '' Tygodnik Illustrowany'', and illustrated works by

Ignacy Krasicki Ignacy Błażej Franciszek Krasicki (3 February 173514 March 1801), from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia (in German, ''Ermland'') and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno (thus, Primate of Poland), was Poland's leading Polish Enlightenment, Enlightenment ...

. He also exhibited widely, including a showing at the

Exposition Universelle (1900) The Exposition Universelle of 1900 (), better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate develop ...

. Shortly after, he developed a severe lung ailment and moved to

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 ...

, making it easier to take convalescent trips to the mountains. During the middle part of the 1900s, he moved about frequently, including stays in

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

and

Szczawnica Szczawnica is a resort town in Nowy Targ County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. As of June 30, 2007, its population was 7,378. Szczawnica has been a well-known resort town since the mid nineteenth century. Due to the presence ...

. In 1907, he finally decided on Olszanka, where he and his wife Gabriela built a house that became a gathering point for painters and writers. It was there that he concentrated on landscapes and produced some of his best-known works. During World War I, he made numerous drawings of events relating to the German occupation for the Warsaw press. Some of these were issued as ''Pro memoria. Prusak w Polsce'' (Prussian in Poland), a series of 20 lithographs that were used as propaganda during the

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (; ; ) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area tran ...

. He died of complications from

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

at the age of fifty-eight.

Selected paintings

File:Józef Rapacki - Zaduma 1892.jpg, ''Reverie'' (1892) File:Rapacki-Thaw.jpg, ''Spring Thaw'' (1905) File:Józef Rapacki - Na krakowskim Kazimierzu 1916.jpg, ''In Krakow's

Kazimierz Kazimierz (; ; ) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located sou ...

'' (1916) File:Józef Rapacki - Winter landscape - MP 2271 MNW - National Museum in Warsaw.jpg, ''Winter landscape'' (1908) File:Józef Rapacki - Jesienią.jpg, ''In autumn'' (1912)

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Rapacki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapacki, Jozef 1871 births 1929 deaths 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Polish landscape painters Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni Polish illustrators Artists from Warsaw Deaths from influenza Polish male painters Painters from the Russian Empire

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links