DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25820#0013
History of Art at the Jagiellonian University 1882-2007
War, that played a dominant role. Likewise his master,
Pagaczewski laid emphasis on the study of Polish art (and
more precisely: on the study of art in Poland) which was
treated as part of European art; such a Polonocentric
attitude which was quite understandable earlier on, in
the situation of a nation deprived of its sovereignty,
became slightly anachronistic after the recovery of
independence and it posed a threat of a specific type of
provincialism. In a work of art, Pagaczewski was
interested mainly in its artistic form and style, hence
having taken over from Sokołowski his philological-
historical method, he quickly enriched it considerably,
taking advantage of the models used by the Vienna
scholars of subsequent generations (Franz Wickhoff,
Alois Riegl and the early Max Dvorak), and above all
Heinrich Wólfflin. In turn, Tadeusz Szydłowski
(1883-1942), through some of his activities, tried to
engage the Cracow milieu in the problems of European
research, not least by his interest in the methodology of
art history. He entered into a sharp polemic with the
Vienna professor Josef Strzygowski who looked for the
sources of European art further and further in the east
and who associated art with the idea of race; many of the
Polish art historians were fascinated with Strzygowski’s
controversial views. Szydłowski was also interested in the
theory of conservation and inventorying monuments.
Professors Wojsław Mole and Stanisław Jan Gąsio-
rowski remained, as it were, outside the main current of
university instruction in the field of art history. As
professor of Ancient and Byzantine art history at the
University of Ljubljana, Slovenian-born Wojsław Mole
(1886-1973), who was a former Vienna student of Dvo-
rak, Julius von Schlosser and Strzygowski, to whom he
owed the broadness of his research horizons and his
methodological formation, became a co-creator of
Slovenian art history. In the year 1925, he was invited to
come to the Jagiellonian University and asked to take the
Chair of Art History of Slavic Nations within the newly
organized Department of Slavic Studies. While in
Cracow, Mole attempted to create a school of researchers
specializing in the Byzantine artistic tradition, yet his
efforts in this respect became thwarted by the outbreak of
the Second World War. In spite of being somewhat of an
outsider, Mole played an important role in the Cracow
milieu, constituting a link between it and the
achievements of the younger generation of Vienna art
historians, including particularly Dvorak’s conception of
art history as a history of ideas (Kunstgeschichte als
Geistesgeschichte), which was formulated by Dvorak after
Mole had already completed his studies, or else Strzy-
gowski’s interest in the art of the peripheries. After the
war, he continued this course of research, then already at
the Institute of Art History. Stanisław JanGąsiorowski
(1897-1962), a historian of ancient art and since the
year 1930, professor of classical archaeology, took part in
art history classes in Cracow and Vienna when he was still
a student. He was interested in the methodology of
archaeology and art history, remaining under a strong
influence of the Riegl tradition of examining artistic form,
Stanisław Jan Gąsiorowski
but at the same time, was equally fascinated by
Strzygowski’s conceptions. After the war, in 1953, he was
deprived of university chair as well as of the post of
director of the Czartoryski Museum for having
transferred the private deposit of the Czartoryski family
to the Cracow bishops’ curia.
Zofia Ameisenowa (1897-1967), a student of
Mycielski and Pagaczewski, and later head of the Print
Room at the Jagiellonian Library, was an exception in
the Cracow milieu. A specialist in drawing, printmaking
and manuscript illumination, she quickly extended the
scope of her research to include science history, history
of ideas and comparative religious studies. Her research
interests brought her closer to the Warburg Institute and
in the 1930s, she published abroad a series of papers on
Jewish iconography; already after the war, she published
a treatise on representations of humans with animal
heads in various religions.
Similarly as during the period of partitions of Poland,
at that time, research was inspired and organized by the
Commission on Art History of the Academy of Arts and
Sciences (since 1919 - the Polish Academy of Arts and
Sciences), which, following the death of Tomkowicz, was
headed by Pagaczewski. The Commission, which
constituted an important discussion forum, also
facilitated the publication of research papers in its own
publications as well as in the general publications of the
Academy. Already in the year 1917, its Sprawozdania...
became transformed into Prace Komisji Historii Sztuki
[Studies of the Commission on Art History], whose
volumes containing chiefly longer papers were slightly
“thinner and slicker”. The quarterly Przegląd Historii
11
War, that played a dominant role. Likewise his master,
Pagaczewski laid emphasis on the study of Polish art (and
more precisely: on the study of art in Poland) which was
treated as part of European art; such a Polonocentric
attitude which was quite understandable earlier on, in
the situation of a nation deprived of its sovereignty,
became slightly anachronistic after the recovery of
independence and it posed a threat of a specific type of
provincialism. In a work of art, Pagaczewski was
interested mainly in its artistic form and style, hence
having taken over from Sokołowski his philological-
historical method, he quickly enriched it considerably,
taking advantage of the models used by the Vienna
scholars of subsequent generations (Franz Wickhoff,
Alois Riegl and the early Max Dvorak), and above all
Heinrich Wólfflin. In turn, Tadeusz Szydłowski
(1883-1942), through some of his activities, tried to
engage the Cracow milieu in the problems of European
research, not least by his interest in the methodology of
art history. He entered into a sharp polemic with the
Vienna professor Josef Strzygowski who looked for the
sources of European art further and further in the east
and who associated art with the idea of race; many of the
Polish art historians were fascinated with Strzygowski’s
controversial views. Szydłowski was also interested in the
theory of conservation and inventorying monuments.
Professors Wojsław Mole and Stanisław Jan Gąsio-
rowski remained, as it were, outside the main current of
university instruction in the field of art history. As
professor of Ancient and Byzantine art history at the
University of Ljubljana, Slovenian-born Wojsław Mole
(1886-1973), who was a former Vienna student of Dvo-
rak, Julius von Schlosser and Strzygowski, to whom he
owed the broadness of his research horizons and his
methodological formation, became a co-creator of
Slovenian art history. In the year 1925, he was invited to
come to the Jagiellonian University and asked to take the
Chair of Art History of Slavic Nations within the newly
organized Department of Slavic Studies. While in
Cracow, Mole attempted to create a school of researchers
specializing in the Byzantine artistic tradition, yet his
efforts in this respect became thwarted by the outbreak of
the Second World War. In spite of being somewhat of an
outsider, Mole played an important role in the Cracow
milieu, constituting a link between it and the
achievements of the younger generation of Vienna art
historians, including particularly Dvorak’s conception of
art history as a history of ideas (Kunstgeschichte als
Geistesgeschichte), which was formulated by Dvorak after
Mole had already completed his studies, or else Strzy-
gowski’s interest in the art of the peripheries. After the
war, he continued this course of research, then already at
the Institute of Art History. Stanisław JanGąsiorowski
(1897-1962), a historian of ancient art and since the
year 1930, professor of classical archaeology, took part in
art history classes in Cracow and Vienna when he was still
a student. He was interested in the methodology of
archaeology and art history, remaining under a strong
influence of the Riegl tradition of examining artistic form,
Stanisław Jan Gąsiorowski
but at the same time, was equally fascinated by
Strzygowski’s conceptions. After the war, in 1953, he was
deprived of university chair as well as of the post of
director of the Czartoryski Museum for having
transferred the private deposit of the Czartoryski family
to the Cracow bishops’ curia.
Zofia Ameisenowa (1897-1967), a student of
Mycielski and Pagaczewski, and later head of the Print
Room at the Jagiellonian Library, was an exception in
the Cracow milieu. A specialist in drawing, printmaking
and manuscript illumination, she quickly extended the
scope of her research to include science history, history
of ideas and comparative religious studies. Her research
interests brought her closer to the Warburg Institute and
in the 1930s, she published abroad a series of papers on
Jewish iconography; already after the war, she published
a treatise on representations of humans with animal
heads in various religions.
Similarly as during the period of partitions of Poland,
at that time, research was inspired and organized by the
Commission on Art History of the Academy of Arts and
Sciences (since 1919 - the Polish Academy of Arts and
Sciences), which, following the death of Tomkowicz, was
headed by Pagaczewski. The Commission, which
constituted an important discussion forum, also
facilitated the publication of research papers in its own
publications as well as in the general publications of the
Academy. Already in the year 1917, its Sprawozdania...
became transformed into Prace Komisji Historii Sztuki
[Studies of the Commission on Art History], whose
volumes containing chiefly longer papers were slightly
“thinner and slicker”. The quarterly Przegląd Historii
11