Wacław Szymanowski (23 August 185922 July 1930) was a Polish sculptor and painter. He is best known for his

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

of composer

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

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 ...

Royal Baths Park Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

(Łazienki Park).

Life

Szymanowski was born in Warsaw and was the son of , the journalist and writer (9 July 1821 – 21 December 1886), and the father of , the

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and politician (14 April 1895 – 15 January 1965).''Encyklopedia powszechna PWN'' (1976), vol. 4, p. 372. Until about 1895 the painter-''cum''-sculptor occupied himself mainly with executing

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

s of Polish mountaineers and

Hutsul The Hutsuls (Rusyn language, Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administra ...

s, and portraits. He then turned to sculpture, creating compositions in

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 ...

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 ...

style. He designed the monuments to

Artur Grottger Artur Grottger (11 November 1837 – 13 December 1867) was a Polish Romantic painter and graphic artist, one of the most prominent artists of the mid 19th century under the partitions of Poland, despite a life cut short by incurable illness. B ...

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 ...

(1907) and to

in Warsaw; tomb monuments (including his father's at Warsaw's

Powązki Cemetery Powązki Cemetery (; ), also known as Stare Powązki (), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of the oldest, having been established in 179 ...

); and portrait busts. He died in Warsaw at age 70.

Chopin monument

In 1907 Szymanowski designed the bronze statue of

that now stands in Warsaw's

Łazienki Park Łazienki Park, or the Royal Baths Park (), is the largest park in Warsaw, Poland, occupying 76 hectares of the city center. The park-and-palace complex lies in the Downtown, Warsaw, Downtown district, on Ujazdów Avenue, which is part of the Roy ...

. The statue was originally to have been erected in 1910, on the centenary of Chopin's birth, but it was delayed by controversy about the design, then by the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The statue was finally cast and erected after the war, in 1926.

Notes

References

* ''Encyklopedia powszechna PWN'' (''PWN Universal Encyclopedia''), vol. 4, Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1976. * ''Encyklopedia Warszawy'' (''Encyclopedia of Warsaw''), 1994. *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szymanowski, Waclaw 1859 births 1930 deaths Polish male sculptors 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Artists from Warsaw Art Nouveau painters Art Nouveau sculptors 20th-century Polish sculptors 19th-century Polish sculptors Polish male painters Painters from the Russian Empire

Life

Chopin monument

See also

Notes

References

External links