Leon Wyczółkowski

An exceptional painter, graphic artist, and sculptor active during the Young Poland period. Born on either the 11th or the 24th of April 1852 in Huta Miastowska near Siedlec, died 27 December 1936 in Warsaw.

Sat, 04/24/1852 - 12:00 - Sun, 12/27/1936 - 12:00

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Leon Wyczółkowski, 1932, photo: szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl

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His artwork continues to generate tremendous interest and is considered by some to be amongst the most outstanding work created in Poland at the turn of the 19th century. Wyczółkowski began his artistic education in 1869 in the Warsaw Drawing Classes led by Antoni Kamiński, Rafał Hadziewicz and Wojciech Gerson. He continued his education in Munich under Aleksander Wagner and between 1877 and 1879 was a student of Jan Matejko at Krakow’s School of Fine Arts.

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'Auto-Portret w Chińskim Kaftanie' (Self-Portrait in Chinese Kaftan) by Leon Wyczółkowski, 1911, photo: National Museum in Warsaw

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In 1878, he undertook a trip to Paris, then in 1879 spent a year in Lviv before returning to Warsaw, where he lived until 1883. Wyczółkowski’s life in Ukraine lasted from 1883 to 1894 and is linked with a breakthrough in his art, where a shift towards realism can be seen. Wyczółkowski went on to be professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1899 to 1911. He was the co-founder and member of the ‘Sztuka’ Art Society of Polish Artists, an elite group representing Polish art on an international level. He likewise was a part of the Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs-Wiener Secession.

Wyczółkowski’s international trips increased the range of motifs in his art: in the 1890s he lived in Italy, in 1905 he visited Spain, whilst in 1915 he visited England, Scotland and Holland. The time period of WWI he spent in Warsaw and Kraków. In 1934, he begame a professor at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.

Wyczółkowski was a constant participant in exhibitions. From 1873 he regularly presented his works at the Zachęta Society of Fine Arts (Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych) and in 1892 at the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts, whilst in 1897 he presented in Lviv. Beyond this, he exhibited his works at Aleksander Krywult's Salon in Warsaw (1890, 1893, 1898, 1899). In 1898 he too part in the group exhibition Secession in Vienna. Wyczółkowski also took part in international exhibitions, such as in Berlin (1891, 1896), Munich (1905), the Vienna Biennale (1914, 1920) as well as the World's Fair in Paris (1900) and St Louis (1904).

Works by Leon Wyczółkowski – Image Gallery

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He took part in the effort to popularise Polish art abroad, taking part in group exhibitions in Paris, Vienna, Moscow and Berlin. Wyczółkowski's prints were presented at international graphic art exhibitions in Prague (1925), Flornce (1925, 1927), Philadelphia (1933) and New York (1934). He also had many solo exhibitions both in Poland and braod.

He was one of Poland’s best graphic artists, achieving unparalleled mastery of the technique of lithography. His talent included both the wide range of artistic expression he used, his experimental passions resulted in him mastering a variety of mediums and artistic techniques. At the beginning of his career, Wyczółkowski focused on oil painting, whilst in 1904 he concentrated mainly on pastels and in 1911 on graphic art, becoming a pioneer in this medium amongst Polish artists.

During his studies under Gerson, Wyczółkowski painted strictly in the academy's style and conventions, featuring historic and religious scenes. In his Munich studio, he created veristic paintings of women, masterfully balancing colours and values. As a student of Matejko's majsterszuli (master school), he sought to create dynamic and dramatic compositions, highlighting expressive gestures and expressions of theatrical actors.

Initially his compositions were romantic and historical in subject matter. The voyage he took to Paris in 1889 proved especially important to Wyczółkowski, as it was on this occasion that he was exposed to the work of the Impressionists. As a result, the artist became deeply interested in matters of light and color, and he shifted his focus to seeking out the lighting effects he could achieve in his paintings. It was at this time that he created some of his best works, including Orka na Ukrainie (Plowing in Ukraine, 1892), Kopanie burakow (Digging for Beats,1893), Gra w Krokieta (A Game of Croquet, 1895), and his series titled Głowy Rybaka (Fisherman’s Heads), consisting of over 30 works.

Wyczolkowski’s style changed after 1900. He began to paint vast numbers of landscapes (including monumental views of the Tatra Mountains), portraits, genre scenes, still lifes, flowers, cityscapes, and views of artistic and historical monuments. His paintings additionally manifest a highly emotional attitude towards nature and the theme of the family.

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Leon Wyczółkowski, Spring, 1931, in collection of National Museum in Bydgoszcz, photo: CC / Wikimedia

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The artist's historic focus is most noticeable amongst his unique representations of the Tara mountains, which Polish modernists recognised as part of their native culture, the cradle of Polish identity and the source of its renewal. In Wyczółkowski's 1898 painting Giewont, the red afterglow of the sun silhouttes the sleeping knight's profile – that is, the shape that folklore has assigned the mountain's peaks. His colour choices deepen the symbolism of the mountain, further scene in his series of pastels dedicated to the Tatra Mountains, a sign of the constant historical motifs present in his works. The year 1904 was especially significant for Poland, as the ongoing Russo-Japanese War rekindled hopes of national independence, giving stronger meaning to national mythology and history.

Around 1900, Wyczółkowski's 30-year fascination with graphic art began. His first attempts were encouraged by Feliks Jasieński, a connoisseur and collector of European graphic art. He was further aided by Ignacy Łopieński, who was the first in Warsaw to own a press, notably one that was not looked upon with suspicion by Russian authorities. Wyczółkowski’s vast output as a graphic artist is essentially unparalleled in Polish art as he constantly sought out and experimented with new printing methods. This more than quarter-century fascination with graphic art

He was able to achieve highly subtle visual effects in various techniques, using white and black to extract delicate, even impressionistic nuances of light. He published his prints in a series of thematic portfolios, which include Tatry (The Tatras, 1906), Teka litewska (Lithuanian Portfolio, 1907), Gdańsk (1909), Teka huculska (East Carpathian Portfolio, 1910), Wawel (1911-12), and Stara Warszawa (Old Warsaw, 1916).

In Wyczółkowski’s graphic art, black-and-white prints dominated; through monochromatic lithography, the artist sought out unique values, specific to lithography and not possible through painting. When he painted over his later works with acrylics, he emphasised that the accented colours should only arouse the viewer’s imagination, ‘disturbing’ his eye, rather than taking away from the numerous grey tones existing within the black-and-white work.

His most notable work of the aquatinting period was Tatry: Ośm Akwatint (1906). Here, on a small surface, Wyczólkowski, a master of depicting majestic mountains, created a psychic condensation of the many elements swirling in their peaks. Inspired by Japanese-style woodcuts, he only showed a thin strip of the landscape, creating an abstract harmony of diverse shades of grey and black, which battled with the whiteness of snowdrifts, such as in Czarny Staw od Strony Morskiego Oka (Black Lake viewed from the Eye of the Sea). A similarly stifling atmosphere was created in his work Las Pod Śniegiem (Forest Under Snow) featuring a forest, where crowded tree stumps planted in a ring are covered in snow.

This variable view of nature, both direct and spontaneous, is seen throughout Wyczółkowski's graphic works immortalising Lithuanian views. In his Lithuanian Portfolio (1907), the captured landscapes share similar characteristics: a conciseness of expression, quick sketches capturing a narrow band of black-and-white values present in the scenery.

Written by Irena Kossowska, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk, January 2003.