Michał Marian Walicki (8 August 1904 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

– 22 August 1966 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 ...

) was a Polish

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

and professor at the

Warsaw University of Technology The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...

and School of Fine Arts (later

Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw () is a public university of visual arts and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw University in the Duchy of Warsaw in 18 ...

Life and work

From 1924 to 1929, Walicki studied art history at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, where he also wrote his PhD thesis. In 1934 he was appointed associate professor and in 1937 full professor of art history. He worked at the Department of Polish Architecture at the Warsaw Technical University, at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (later the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw), at the

National Museum, Warsaw The National Museum in Warsaw (, 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 (Art of ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Art in ancient Greece, Greek, ...

, where he was curator of the Gallery of Foreign Painting, and at the Art History Institute of the University of Warsaw. According to Juliusz Chrościcki, Walicki was a great art historian. He was a consummate connoisseur of seventeenth-century Dutch painting and Polish Gothic painting, and wrote, as author or co-author, many publications devoted to Polish and foreign painting. He also promoted the popularization of, and education through, art, as he could write about art in a manner accessible and understandable to all. Walicki worked at the Department of Polish Architecture of the Warsaw Technical University in 1929–1936 and at the

in 1932–1939 and 1945–1949, he was awarded by the Officer's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

in 1947. Walicki's most famous student was

Jan Białostocki Jan Białostocki (Polish: ; August 14, 1921 – December 25, 1988) was a Polish historian who was born in Saratov, Russia and died in Warsaw. He is considered to be one of the most renowned Poland, Polish art historians of the 20th century. Life ...

. In his younger years, the latter worked as an assistant to Walicki at the National Museum, Warsaw, and, as an unpaid assistant, also at the University of Warsaw in Walicki's Institute of Medieval Art History. In 1957, Walicki and Białostocki wrote an overview of the history of painting collecting in Poland.Behind the Icon Curtain: Dutch and Flemish Art in Central and Eastern Europe
/ref> In 1949 Walicki was arrested and imprisoned till 1953 on the grounds of both

false accusation A false accusation is a claim or allegation of wrongdoing that is untrue and/or otherwise unsupported by facts. False accusations are also known as groundless accusations, unfounded accusations, false allegations, false claims or unsubstantiated al ...

s and a fabricated evidence.

References

Select publications

* (with Juliusz Starzyński), ''Dzieje sztuki polskiej'' (1934) * ''Malarstwo polskie XV wieku'' (1938) * ''Malarstwo obce w zbiorach polskich'' (1955) * (with

), ''Malarstwo polskie, Gotyk, renesans, wczesny manieryzm'' (1961) * ''Obrazy dalekie i bliskie'' (1963) * ''Złoty widnokrąg'' (1965)

External links

Marek Walczak, MICHAŁ WALICKI (1904–1966)

Library of Congress: Visual arts in Poland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walicki, Michal Polish art historians Academic staff of the Warsaw University of Technology 1904 births 1966 deaths

Life and work

References

Select publications

Further reading

External links