DOI issue:
Nr. 2
DOI article:Kozakowska-Zaucha, Urszula: Decadents, pessimists and neo-romantics, or, young Poland and bohemianism in Krakow
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51715#0213
Works by Polish artists Wojciech Weiss and Stanislaw
Wyspiaňski, the Krakow bohème held regulär “sympo-
sia” that ended at dawn with concerts given by the
master of the house, who would play Chopin for
hours. Guests included, among others, Tadeusz Boy
Želeňski, Stanislaw Sieroslawski, Jan Kleczyňski and
the artist Jan Szczepkowski. The Przybyszewski cou-
ple would visit, in turn, the art studios of Ksawery
Dunikowski, Ludwik Marcus (later Louis Marcous-
sis), Wojciech Weiss and Stanislaw Wyspiaňski. Przy-
byszewski’s salons and his lifestyle had a profound
influence also on other spots of this kind in Krakow.
Among salons, the most populär was the one held
by Maria and Ignacy Sewer Maciej owski, a writer,
literary critic and editor-in-chief of the Krakow
review Zycie. At their apartment at 6 Batory Street,
to quote the chronicler Tadeusz Boy-Želeňski, “the
whole génération of writers met every day for an afternoon
tea. The only regulärguest who did not drink was Asnyk;for
him Mrs. Maciejowska always prepared bis favourite white
coffee with a skinT^ Other guests included the writer
Wladyslaw Reymont, the painters Jacek Malczewski,
Leon Wyczólkowski and Stanislaw Wyspiaňski and
the whole pack of others. Another place to men-
tion is the house of Eliza and Stanislaw Pareňski at
4 Wielopole Street, where “everyone” would come:
“poets and painters, members of the newly-established ‘Sp-
inka’ Society T Among those who gathered there to
play whist and hold passionate discussions were the
art collecter and expert Feliks Manggha Jasieňski,
Jacek Malczewski, the poet Adam Asnyk, Leon
Wyczólkowski and, of course, Przybyszewski.
In Krakow, like in Vienna, Berlin and Paris, there
were art cafés, which became the venue and the
breeding ground for bohemian abode, the “nigthly
sanctuaries of Secession”, which played the role of
14 BOY-ŽELEŇSKI, T.: Na poezatku byla chuč [At the Be-
ginning Was Lust]. In: 0 Krakowie [About Krakow]. Ed. H.
MARKIEWICZ. Krakow 1974, p. 69.
15 ŠWIDERSKA, A.: Trwa, choc przeminçlo fit Continues, but
Astray]. In: Kopiecwspomnien [A Bunch of Memories]. Krakow
1964, pp. 325-326.
16 BOY-ŽELEŇSKI, T.: Nonszalancki Paon [Paon Noncha-
lant]. In: Znaspli ten kraß... (see in note 7), p. 160.
1 KOZAKOWSKA-ZAUCHA, U.: Z biegiem dni, biegiem nocy
cpyliNarodoweMupeum Spalonemu Kabaretem [Through the Day,
spécifie salons, and indeed displaced them as the
privileged spaces of cultural exchange. “There were also
other reasons. It was disturbing, to expose the social life of the
bohemia, innocent, albeit often requiring a Utile discrétion, to
the eyes of thepopulace. Prpybyspewski could not live without
a grand piano, or at least a piano, Stanislawski without a
table to play bisfavourite vint cardgame. ..AU this led to an
idea to create a shelter that would be inaccessible to strangers,
where it would be possible to [enjoyj painting, musicplaying,
drinking, singing and discussing no end.ӕb The first such
venue was Café Restaurant du Théâtre, established
by Ferdynand Turliňski in 1896 at 38 Szpitalna Street.
The first floor housed a room known as “Paon noncha-
lant” (French for peacock) (in reference to the verse
from Maurice Maeterlinck’s poem “lespaons blancs, les
paons nonchalants”}, where writers and artists, led by
Przybyszewski, drowned their sorrows or looked for
inspiration in black coffee and alcohol.
The Krakow bourgeoisie considered the café a
place of moral corruption of the Polish youth as well
as a den of iniquity and ail evil.14 15 16 17 To make matters
worse, Dagny Przybyszewska scandalously played
billiards with Tadeusz Boy-Želeňski there. It is worth
emphasising that at the time “a womanplaying billiards
was enough to shock Krakow and it substantially contributed
to the legends about orgies in Paon”.18 By contrast, ac-
cording to the historian Wilhelm Feldman, Paon
became a place of great intellectual improvisations
and artistic compétitions and, above ail, a place of
constant “battles with philistineßT Paon’s special at-
mosphère was immortalized in a monumental canvas
(now in the collection of the National Museum in
Krakow) [Fig. 1], covered with pictures and texts of
the café regulars, among others, Józef Mehoffer,
Wlodzimierz Tetmajer, Witold Wojtkiewicz and
Stanislaw Wyspiaňski, which became a sort of album
through the Night, that Is, National Museum to the Salon
Cabaret], Krakow 2003; MALKIEWICZ, B.: „Paon“ - das
erste Künstlercafe des „Jungen Polen“. In: Impressionismus und
Symbolismus. Malerei der Jarbundertwende aus Polen. [Exhib. Cat.]
Eds. D. TEUBER - B. OSTROWSKA. Warsaw, National
Museum — Baden-Baden, Staatliche Kunsthalle, 6 December
1997 - 1 March 1998. Baden-Baden 1998, pp. 51-57.
18 BOY-ŽELEŇSKI 1984 (see in note 7), p. 162.
19 FELDMAN, W: Pismiennictwo polskie 1880 — 1904 [Polish
Literatuře 1880 - 1904]. Lwów 1905, pp. 177-181.
205
Wyspiaňski, the Krakow bohème held regulär “sympo-
sia” that ended at dawn with concerts given by the
master of the house, who would play Chopin for
hours. Guests included, among others, Tadeusz Boy
Želeňski, Stanislaw Sieroslawski, Jan Kleczyňski and
the artist Jan Szczepkowski. The Przybyszewski cou-
ple would visit, in turn, the art studios of Ksawery
Dunikowski, Ludwik Marcus (later Louis Marcous-
sis), Wojciech Weiss and Stanislaw Wyspiaňski. Przy-
byszewski’s salons and his lifestyle had a profound
influence also on other spots of this kind in Krakow.
Among salons, the most populär was the one held
by Maria and Ignacy Sewer Maciej owski, a writer,
literary critic and editor-in-chief of the Krakow
review Zycie. At their apartment at 6 Batory Street,
to quote the chronicler Tadeusz Boy-Želeňski, “the
whole génération of writers met every day for an afternoon
tea. The only regulärguest who did not drink was Asnyk;for
him Mrs. Maciejowska always prepared bis favourite white
coffee with a skinT^ Other guests included the writer
Wladyslaw Reymont, the painters Jacek Malczewski,
Leon Wyczólkowski and Stanislaw Wyspiaňski and
the whole pack of others. Another place to men-
tion is the house of Eliza and Stanislaw Pareňski at
4 Wielopole Street, where “everyone” would come:
“poets and painters, members of the newly-established ‘Sp-
inka’ Society T Among those who gathered there to
play whist and hold passionate discussions were the
art collecter and expert Feliks Manggha Jasieňski,
Jacek Malczewski, the poet Adam Asnyk, Leon
Wyczólkowski and, of course, Przybyszewski.
In Krakow, like in Vienna, Berlin and Paris, there
were art cafés, which became the venue and the
breeding ground for bohemian abode, the “nigthly
sanctuaries of Secession”, which played the role of
14 BOY-ŽELEŇSKI, T.: Na poezatku byla chuč [At the Be-
ginning Was Lust]. In: 0 Krakowie [About Krakow]. Ed. H.
MARKIEWICZ. Krakow 1974, p. 69.
15 ŠWIDERSKA, A.: Trwa, choc przeminçlo fit Continues, but
Astray]. In: Kopiecwspomnien [A Bunch of Memories]. Krakow
1964, pp. 325-326.
16 BOY-ŽELEŇSKI, T.: Nonszalancki Paon [Paon Noncha-
lant]. In: Znaspli ten kraß... (see in note 7), p. 160.
1 KOZAKOWSKA-ZAUCHA, U.: Z biegiem dni, biegiem nocy
cpyliNarodoweMupeum Spalonemu Kabaretem [Through the Day,
spécifie salons, and indeed displaced them as the
privileged spaces of cultural exchange. “There were also
other reasons. It was disturbing, to expose the social life of the
bohemia, innocent, albeit often requiring a Utile discrétion, to
the eyes of thepopulace. Prpybyspewski could not live without
a grand piano, or at least a piano, Stanislawski without a
table to play bisfavourite vint cardgame. ..AU this led to an
idea to create a shelter that would be inaccessible to strangers,
where it would be possible to [enjoyj painting, musicplaying,
drinking, singing and discussing no end.ӕb The first such
venue was Café Restaurant du Théâtre, established
by Ferdynand Turliňski in 1896 at 38 Szpitalna Street.
The first floor housed a room known as “Paon noncha-
lant” (French for peacock) (in reference to the verse
from Maurice Maeterlinck’s poem “lespaons blancs, les
paons nonchalants”}, where writers and artists, led by
Przybyszewski, drowned their sorrows or looked for
inspiration in black coffee and alcohol.
The Krakow bourgeoisie considered the café a
place of moral corruption of the Polish youth as well
as a den of iniquity and ail evil.14 15 16 17 To make matters
worse, Dagny Przybyszewska scandalously played
billiards with Tadeusz Boy-Želeňski there. It is worth
emphasising that at the time “a womanplaying billiards
was enough to shock Krakow and it substantially contributed
to the legends about orgies in Paon”.18 By contrast, ac-
cording to the historian Wilhelm Feldman, Paon
became a place of great intellectual improvisations
and artistic compétitions and, above ail, a place of
constant “battles with philistineßT Paon’s special at-
mosphère was immortalized in a monumental canvas
(now in the collection of the National Museum in
Krakow) [Fig. 1], covered with pictures and texts of
the café regulars, among others, Józef Mehoffer,
Wlodzimierz Tetmajer, Witold Wojtkiewicz and
Stanislaw Wyspiaňski, which became a sort of album
through the Night, that Is, National Museum to the Salon
Cabaret], Krakow 2003; MALKIEWICZ, B.: „Paon“ - das
erste Künstlercafe des „Jungen Polen“. In: Impressionismus und
Symbolismus. Malerei der Jarbundertwende aus Polen. [Exhib. Cat.]
Eds. D. TEUBER - B. OSTROWSKA. Warsaw, National
Museum — Baden-Baden, Staatliche Kunsthalle, 6 December
1997 - 1 March 1998. Baden-Baden 1998, pp. 51-57.
18 BOY-ŽELEŇSKI 1984 (see in note 7), p. 162.
19 FELDMAN, W: Pismiennictwo polskie 1880 — 1904 [Polish
Literatuře 1880 - 1904]. Lwów 1905, pp. 177-181.
205