DOI Heft:
Nr. 1-2
DOI Artikel:Wyganowska, Wanda: Krytycy wobec tematyki legionowej Jacka Malczewskiego
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48917#0065
TEMATYKA LEGIONOWA J. MALCZEWSKIEGO
pendence. He was sixty years old at the time, and initial-
ly hostile towards the Legions of Józef Piłsudski, which
where commanded, by Austrian generals. Following a
compulsory departure from Cracow during a Russian
offensive, Malczewski found himself in the studio of
Kazimierz Pochwalski in Vienna where, for a brief
period, he succumbed to the idea of restoring inde-
pendence through an alliance with Austria and Germany
and war against Russia.
An exhibition held of the art of the Polish Legions
in Cracow (May 1916) and later ones in Zurich, Vienna
and other cities, featured i.a. Two Generations [ill. 2],
Polonia [ill. 5] and a Portrait of KazimierzPochwalski
[ill. 4] which depticed German and Austrian troops
marching alongside the Legions. The Portrait of Włady-
sław L. Jaworski [ill. 1] showed the chairman of the
Main National Commitee who abandoned political ac-
tivity in March 1918 after a total loss of pro-Austrian
loyalties.
The Winged Victory of the Polish Legions [i\\. 7]
was not exhibited outside Cracow because its contro-
versial nudę figurę of Malczewski’s lover, Maria Balo-
wa, showed the way to a scatterd linę of legionaries a
gesture that was ridiculed in a review by Michał
Żmigrodzki.
Jerzy Mycielski, professor at the Jagiellonian Uni-
wersity, a close friend of the painter and a fervent
supporter of the Legions, played a special role in inspi-
ring Jacek Malczewski with legionary conceptions. It
was at his commission that Jacek Malczewski madę the
magnificent double portrait: Two Generations [ill. 2].
The composition shows Mycielski as a representative of
the older generation, together with the younger Michał
Żymierski, an officer of the Legions who, with other
legionaries, brought nearer the day of independence.
This independence was symbolized by a Ressurected
Christ over the battlefield. Malczewski also painted a
Portrait ofJózef Piłsudski [ill. 3] after Piłsudski’s resig-
nation from the Legions, a decision was caused by the
absence of concrete plans by the Austrian and German
govemments regarding the futurę independence of Po-
land. According to T. Seweryn, Piłsudski was greatly
disappointed with the fate of his projects and wanted
Malczewski to place in the background the figurę of
King Władysław Warneńczyk, envisaged as a tragic
hero. Malczewski, hovered, painted a Winged Victory,
the personification of the famę of the founder of the
Legions. In the near futurę, this portrait will be displayed
in the Piłsudski Museum to be created in the Pałace
Belweder, in Warsaw.
The article is the first modem study of the reviews
written in 1915-1916 by J. Mycielski, J. Remer and M.
Żmigrodzki about J. Malczewski’ s works. Later reviews
written by of A. Heydel and contemporary monographic
studies about the painted A. Jakimowicz andJ. Pucia-
ta-Pawłowska are also considered.
Translated by Aleksandra Rodzińska-Chojnowska
55
pendence. He was sixty years old at the time, and initial-
ly hostile towards the Legions of Józef Piłsudski, which
where commanded, by Austrian generals. Following a
compulsory departure from Cracow during a Russian
offensive, Malczewski found himself in the studio of
Kazimierz Pochwalski in Vienna where, for a brief
period, he succumbed to the idea of restoring inde-
pendence through an alliance with Austria and Germany
and war against Russia.
An exhibition held of the art of the Polish Legions
in Cracow (May 1916) and later ones in Zurich, Vienna
and other cities, featured i.a. Two Generations [ill. 2],
Polonia [ill. 5] and a Portrait of KazimierzPochwalski
[ill. 4] which depticed German and Austrian troops
marching alongside the Legions. The Portrait of Włady-
sław L. Jaworski [ill. 1] showed the chairman of the
Main National Commitee who abandoned political ac-
tivity in March 1918 after a total loss of pro-Austrian
loyalties.
The Winged Victory of the Polish Legions [i\\. 7]
was not exhibited outside Cracow because its contro-
versial nudę figurę of Malczewski’s lover, Maria Balo-
wa, showed the way to a scatterd linę of legionaries a
gesture that was ridiculed in a review by Michał
Żmigrodzki.
Jerzy Mycielski, professor at the Jagiellonian Uni-
wersity, a close friend of the painter and a fervent
supporter of the Legions, played a special role in inspi-
ring Jacek Malczewski with legionary conceptions. It
was at his commission that Jacek Malczewski madę the
magnificent double portrait: Two Generations [ill. 2].
The composition shows Mycielski as a representative of
the older generation, together with the younger Michał
Żymierski, an officer of the Legions who, with other
legionaries, brought nearer the day of independence.
This independence was symbolized by a Ressurected
Christ over the battlefield. Malczewski also painted a
Portrait ofJózef Piłsudski [ill. 3] after Piłsudski’s resig-
nation from the Legions, a decision was caused by the
absence of concrete plans by the Austrian and German
govemments regarding the futurę independence of Po-
land. According to T. Seweryn, Piłsudski was greatly
disappointed with the fate of his projects and wanted
Malczewski to place in the background the figurę of
King Władysław Warneńczyk, envisaged as a tragic
hero. Malczewski, hovered, painted a Winged Victory,
the personification of the famę of the founder of the
Legions. In the near futurę, this portrait will be displayed
in the Piłsudski Museum to be created in the Pałace
Belweder, in Warsaw.
The article is the first modem study of the reviews
written in 1915-1916 by J. Mycielski, J. Remer and M.
Żmigrodzki about J. Malczewski’ s works. Later reviews
written by of A. Heydel and contemporary monographic
studies about the painted A. Jakimowicz andJ. Pucia-
ta-Pawłowska are also considered.
Translated by Aleksandra Rodzińska-Chojnowska
55