From the Editor
The collection of modem Polish painting in the National Museum in Cracow
numbers over four and a half thousand paintings. Their selected part is presented
to the public permanently in two galleries: one in the Cloth Hall and the other in the
Main Building. In contradistinction to the guidebooks to both galleries, the present
Catalogue is a publication which presents the totality of our collection, including
paintings kept in storerooms, less known, yet of vital importance for the study of
Polish art.
All works listed in the Catalogue belong to the Department of Modem
Polish Painting and Sculpture, with the seat and storerooms in the Main Building and in
the Cloth Hall. A part of this collection is on a permanent display not only in the
above-mentioned galleries but also in the Gallery of Polish Arms and Colours, the
Gallery of Decorative Art, as well as in the Stanislaw Wyspiariski Museum and in the
House of Jozef Mehoffer. However, the Catalogue does not mention the paintings
by Polish artists kept in the House of Jan Matejko, where they are inscribed in the
inventory of that specific collection.
The Catalogue comprises exclusively oil works, executed on various
grounds, as well as those painted in distemper, acrylics or else executed in mixed
techniques, whereas both galleries have been additionally enriched with, for instance,
water-colours, pastels and drawings, essential for a fuller presentation of the creative
output of such artists as Stanislaw Wyspiariski or Jozef Mehoffer.
In order to supply the comprehensive information about the collection,
the compositions painted on the reverses of paintings have been included in the
Catalogue. Thus every two-sided picture has received a double note referring to the
front and reverse, labelled with letters A and B, respectively.
Also, each canvas has received its reproduction in the form of a small
black-and-white illustration. In order to make the readers aware of the beauty of works
created by the most outstanding Polish artists, some paintings have been reproduced
in colour, in a larger format.
The collection of modem Polish painting in the National Museum in Cracow
numbers over four and a half thousand paintings. Their selected part is presented
to the public permanently in two galleries: one in the Cloth Hall and the other in the
Main Building. In contradistinction to the guidebooks to both galleries, the present
Catalogue is a publication which presents the totality of our collection, including
paintings kept in storerooms, less known, yet of vital importance for the study of
Polish art.
All works listed in the Catalogue belong to the Department of Modem
Polish Painting and Sculpture, with the seat and storerooms in the Main Building and in
the Cloth Hall. A part of this collection is on a permanent display not only in the
above-mentioned galleries but also in the Gallery of Polish Arms and Colours, the
Gallery of Decorative Art, as well as in the Stanislaw Wyspiariski Museum and in the
House of Jozef Mehoffer. However, the Catalogue does not mention the paintings
by Polish artists kept in the House of Jan Matejko, where they are inscribed in the
inventory of that specific collection.
The Catalogue comprises exclusively oil works, executed on various
grounds, as well as those painted in distemper, acrylics or else executed in mixed
techniques, whereas both galleries have been additionally enriched with, for instance,
water-colours, pastels and drawings, essential for a fuller presentation of the creative
output of such artists as Stanislaw Wyspiariski or Jozef Mehoffer.
In order to supply the comprehensive information about the collection,
the compositions painted on the reverses of paintings have been included in the
Catalogue. Thus every two-sided picture has received a double note referring to the
front and reverse, labelled with letters A and B, respectively.
Also, each canvas has received its reproduction in the form of a small
black-and-white illustration. In order to make the readers aware of the beauty of works
created by the most outstanding Polish artists, some paintings have been reproduced
in colour, in a larger format.