Witold Wojtkiewicz
Witold Wojtkiewicz (29 December 1879,
Biography
He came from a family of eleven children. His father was the chief cashier at Bank Handlowy and did not support Witold's desire to become an artist. Nevertheless, he was able to enroll at the Warsaw school of drawing, where he studied with Jan Kauzik. After a brief attempt to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts, he continued at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts from 1903 to 1904 with Leon Wyczółkowski; supporting himself by doing illustrations for the short-lived satirical magazine, Liberum Veto.[1]
In 1905, he was a witness to the
He also collaborated with members of the Zielony Balonik cabaret to create watercolors that may still be seen at the Jama Michalika café, and created illustrations for works by his friend, the writer Roman Jaworski , as well as numerous vignettes and illuminated letters for books and postcards.[1]
At an exhibition in Berlin in 1906, he attracted the attention of André Gide, who arranged for a showing in 1907 at the Galerie Druet in Paris and wrote the introduction to the catalog.[2]
By this time his style had darkened due to the suffering from an incurable, congenital heart defect, which led to his death at the age of twenty-nine. At his mother's request, his diary was placed in the coffin with his remains.[
Selected paintings
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Abduction of the
King's Daughter,National Museum, Warsaw -
Mediations, Ash Wednesday,National Museum, Kraków
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Marionettes,National Museum, Warsaw
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Ploughing,National Museum, Warsaw
References
- ^ a b Brief biography @ Culture.pl
- ^ a b Biographical notes @ Pinakoteka.
Further reading
- ISBN 83-85367-29-2
- Barbara Niedoba, Witold Wojtkiewicz: między ironią a melancholią : katalog wystawy, Muzeum Śląskie, 1999 ISBN 83-87455-75-X
- Zofia Gołubiew, Barbara Domańska, Anna Zeńczak (eds.), Witold Wojtkiewicz, Katalog wystawy (2 Vols.), National Museum, Kraków, 1989.
- Wiesław Juszczak (ed.), Wojtkiewicz i nowa sztuka, Instytut Sztuki (Polska Akademia Nauk), Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1965