I was lucky enough to enjoy an adventure to Poland during the Easter holiday of this year, and found myself in the National Gallery in Krakow, the largest museum in Poland. While I was there, an exhibition was being held detailing the life and works of the extremely talented, multifaceted Polish artist Stanislaw Wyspianski (1869 – 1907). Wyspianski was a successful playwright, painter, poet, and interior designer, sewing Modernism with Polish folk traditions and Romantic history, creating a range of beautiful, eclectic, unique works, many of which were displayed in the exhibition.
He was also a prominent figure of the Young Poland movement, a diverse group of early 20th-century Neoromantic writers and artists united in reaction against Naturalism and Positivism, inspired by western European trends such as Symbolism and Polish Romantic writers. For example, his play ‘Wesele’ (1901) is written in stylized verse.
This post will not be a review of the National Museum’s exhibition. Rather, I will offer an insight into Wyspianski and his work in order to bring light to an artist so uniquely talented with such an eclectic oeuvre.
Wyspianski was born in Krakow, Poland in 1869.
In 1887, he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he studied elements of art, history, literature. His studies, especially in historical artefacts, ignited a passion in Wyspianski for exploring his country's history and heritage in his later work. This interest manifested itself in his plans for stain-glass windows, his poetry and his plays. These artforms allowed him to weave historical and mythological events and folk stories into his work, making them appear dramatic and active, and othertimely. For example, his play ‘Legenda’ was based on the famous Polish legend of Wars and Sawa.
As a student, Wyspianski also worked on the renovations of the Holy Cross Church, Warsaw, and St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow. He was also was asked to design wall paintings for the Franciscan Church in Krakow to replace those which had been damaged in a fire in 1850. Inspired by St. Francis’ love of nature, Wyspianski depicted huge flowers as well as abstract geometric patterns. Despite initial conflicts with the Franciscan monks over his style, Wyspianski was askrd to design the stained-glass windows for the church.
These experiences shaped his fine-art work particularly by sparking an interest in him in architectural design and the design for stained-glass windows. These two elements dominated his work as they became a literal focus of his, as he designed many stained-glass windows and assisted in other renovation works, but Wyspianski was also inspired by their aesthetic elements, such the bright, bold colours of stained-glass and clear, geometric shapes of church interiors, which appeared throughout his art work.
Wyspianski also began writing poetry and prose to accompany his fine-art works. For, example he designed a series of (unrealised) stained-glass windows for the Wawel Cathedral (Krakow) and wrote poems about the historical personages and stories they depicted.
Between 1890–1895, Wyspianski travelled extensively, visiting Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Prague and France. His travels greatly benefitted the development of his artistic knowledge. He was introduced to the latest aesthetic trends in European art, literature, and theatre, and became involved in the modernist movement and its rejection of realism and awareness of the co-existence of different artforms. On his travels he watched the plays of Shakespeare, Goethe, Weber and Wagner, as well as explore the countries’ cultures, architecture, especially cathedrals, and art movements. While travelling, he also began more extensively writing dramas and opera librettos.
Between 1890–1895, Wyspianski travelled extensively, visiting Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Prague and France. His travels greatly benefitted the development of his artistic knowledge. He was introduced to the latest aesthetic trends in European art, literature, and theatre, and became involved in the modernist movement and its rejection of realism and awareness of the co-existence of different artforms. On his travels he watched the plays of Shakespeare, Goethe, Weber and Wagner, as well as explore the countries’ cultures, architecture, especially cathedrals, and art movements. While travelling, he also began more extensively writing dramas and opera librettos.
His diverse career as an artist involved making plans for architectural restorations of historical landmarks, in particular the Wawel Royal Castle, designing stained-glass windows, creating fine-art works using mainly pastels, designing furniture, writing plays and poetry, and working on stage designs for Krakow's City Theatre as well as his own plays.
Wyspianski most frequently used soft pastels to create his fine-art works, with his subjects comprising mainly of self-portraits and his friends, family, and other artists. He drew his children in everyday situations, such as feeding and sleeping.
Wyspianski also painted landscapes of around Poland, such as in Grabowo, the Vistula Rudawa River, and, at the end of his life, views from his Krakow studio.
The key themes of Wyspianski's dramas are best represented in his play ‘Wesele’ (The Wedding. 1901), which used symbolic language in verse reminiscent of Romantic poems to talk about the history and contemporary situation of Poland, as well as reference major poetic, theatrical and fine-art works in Polish culture. The play illustrates a picture of a society damaged and limited by its political regime, focus on national and scepticism of the intelligentsia. First performed at Krakow's City Theatre on March 16, 1901, it brought instant acclaim to its playwright. Wesele is still considered one of the best and most important Polish dramas of the twentieth century, despite being written at the century’s very start, starting many aphorisms in Polish culture. Director Andrzej Wajda turned the play into a film in 1973, reintroducing Wyspianski to a modern audience.
In addition to his plays, Wyspianski wrote Studium o Hamlecie (A Study on Hamlet. Published 1905), a treatise on the tasks of the theatre from the focus of producing Hamlet. It importantly explores the effects the society a play is produced in has on the play text itself, the relationship between staging and the inferred meaning of a play text by the audience, as well as the status of an actor as a powerful tool to articulate the message of a playwright and thus being capable of challenging society. His study was extremely influential, inspiring other Polish authors write about the role of modern theatre and remained a major reference for generations of theatre makers.
Wypsianski produced an outstanding amount of work over the course of his relatively short artistic career, but unfortunately, a number of his plans and designs were never realised and only a handful of his plays ever made it onto the stage.
Wyspianski’s health deteriorated in the last few years of his later before he died of Syphilis at the age of 38 in 1907.
My favourite pieces of art are those where I am engaged in a visceral experience with the piece. For me, Wyspianski’s art absolutely fulfils this criterion. His fine-art pieces especially are outstandingly dynamic, vibrant and bold, drawing the viewer in and thus I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to view them, as they are now among some of my favourite pieces.
Bibliography
An account of his paintings:
An account of his stained-glass designs: