DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25820#0017
History of Art at the Jagiellonian University 1882-2007
Tadeusz Dobrowolski
to supervise the academic life in the country; the latter
move was also connected with the liquidation or limitation
of the activity of the regional academic societies in other
cities. The situation gradually improved, thanks to the
creation of the Cracow branch of the Polish Academy of
Sciences in 1957, within which a Commission of the Theory
and History of Art was formed in 1961; in 1964, the
Commission initiated the publication of the yearbook Folia
Historiae Artium, whose successive editors were professors:
Tadeusz Dobrowolski, Lech Kalinowski and at present
Adam Małkiewicz. Earlier on, for in the year 1962, the
University Institute of Art History initiated a series entitled
Prace z Historii Sztuki [Studies on Art History] which was
published as part of the Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu
Jagiellońskiego [Academic Journals of the Jagiellonian
University], Attempts to restore the Polish Academy of
Arts and Sciences, which were undertaken several times,
ended with success only in the year 1992; in 1995 the
Commission on Art History, together with the journal
Folia..., now marked with separate volume numbers as
a new series, moved to the Polish Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
During the war, professors Pagaczewski and
Szydłowski died in Cracow, whereas Mole had left for
Yugoslavia, so consequently after the war, the only full-
time university art historian with a postdoctoral degree
was Adam Bochnak. So it was him who already in
January 1945, shortly after the withdrawal of the
Germans, went about the task of reconstructing the chair
of art history and of organizing tuition which was
ultimately re-launched in April of that year. From the
very beginning, it was, among others, Jerzy Szabłowski,
subsequently director of the Wawel Castle for many
years, that co-operated with Bochnak. In July 1945, they
were joined by Karol Estreicher, returning from
emigration in London who had considerable achieve-
ments in the recovery of Polish monuments of culture
from Germany. In the next year, it was Tadeusz Dobro-
wolski, the provincial conservator of monuments in Ka-
towice and the creator of the most modern Polish
museum in this city at the time which was methodically
destroyed by the Germans, that obtained a post at the
university. In October 1945, Mole returned to Cracow. In
connection with the liquidation of Slavic Studies in 1950,
his chair was moved to the Historical Faculty, while he
himself became head of the Complex of Art History
Chairs in 1952. In 1956, the Complex of Art History
Chairs was transformed into the Institute of Art History,
with three chairs: that of Mediaeval Art History (headed
by Mole), Early Modern Art History (Bochnak) and
Contemporary Art History (Dobrowolski); Mole remain-
ed head of the Institute right until his retirement in 1960.
During the period of Poland’s imposed isolation from
world science, the activity of Mole opened wider
cognitive perspectives before the students, yet it was
chiefly the generation of professors born around the
year 1900, the students of Pagaczewski and, to a lesser
degree, of Mycielski or Szydłowski, who continued the
interwar tradition of Cracow art history, namely that of
formal research on art history, that decided about the
academic and didactic character of the Institute.
Among these professors it was Adam Bochnak
(1899-1974), Mole’s successor at the post of director of the
Institute, a conscientious researcher and teacher, that in all
likelihood played the most important role. As a student,
close collaborator and friend of Pagaczewski, he was
professionally associated with the University already from
his early student days; throughout all that time, he
remained faithful to the academic interests and method of
pursuing art history by his master. Out of his vast and
varied academic output, it is papers devoted to Polish
handicrafts, and especially those relating to goldsmithery
and weaving that have the greatest value. Bochnak was
also the first one to have written a history of Polish
art history. Mycielski’s student, Tadeusz Dobrowolski
(1899-1984), who also graduated from the Academy of
Fine Aits, was interested in the painting of all periods, but
after the war, he focused mainly on the art of the 19th and
20th centuries. With a critical attitude towards the avant-
garde, he was the only one in Cracow who tried to use the
rather superficially acquired Marxist method which was
interpreted by him in a rather commonsense way.
Endowed with an exceptional writing talent, he left behind
him a few comprehensive studies which had the character
of a textbook (among others, Nowoczesne malarstwo
polskie [Modern Polish Painting], III vols. 1957-1964).
After becoming director of the Royal Wawel Castle, the
younger Jerzy Szabłowski (1906-1989), author of
15
Tadeusz Dobrowolski
to supervise the academic life in the country; the latter
move was also connected with the liquidation or limitation
of the activity of the regional academic societies in other
cities. The situation gradually improved, thanks to the
creation of the Cracow branch of the Polish Academy of
Sciences in 1957, within which a Commission of the Theory
and History of Art was formed in 1961; in 1964, the
Commission initiated the publication of the yearbook Folia
Historiae Artium, whose successive editors were professors:
Tadeusz Dobrowolski, Lech Kalinowski and at present
Adam Małkiewicz. Earlier on, for in the year 1962, the
University Institute of Art History initiated a series entitled
Prace z Historii Sztuki [Studies on Art History] which was
published as part of the Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu
Jagiellońskiego [Academic Journals of the Jagiellonian
University], Attempts to restore the Polish Academy of
Arts and Sciences, which were undertaken several times,
ended with success only in the year 1992; in 1995 the
Commission on Art History, together with the journal
Folia..., now marked with separate volume numbers as
a new series, moved to the Polish Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
During the war, professors Pagaczewski and
Szydłowski died in Cracow, whereas Mole had left for
Yugoslavia, so consequently after the war, the only full-
time university art historian with a postdoctoral degree
was Adam Bochnak. So it was him who already in
January 1945, shortly after the withdrawal of the
Germans, went about the task of reconstructing the chair
of art history and of organizing tuition which was
ultimately re-launched in April of that year. From the
very beginning, it was, among others, Jerzy Szabłowski,
subsequently director of the Wawel Castle for many
years, that co-operated with Bochnak. In July 1945, they
were joined by Karol Estreicher, returning from
emigration in London who had considerable achieve-
ments in the recovery of Polish monuments of culture
from Germany. In the next year, it was Tadeusz Dobro-
wolski, the provincial conservator of monuments in Ka-
towice and the creator of the most modern Polish
museum in this city at the time which was methodically
destroyed by the Germans, that obtained a post at the
university. In October 1945, Mole returned to Cracow. In
connection with the liquidation of Slavic Studies in 1950,
his chair was moved to the Historical Faculty, while he
himself became head of the Complex of Art History
Chairs in 1952. In 1956, the Complex of Art History
Chairs was transformed into the Institute of Art History,
with three chairs: that of Mediaeval Art History (headed
by Mole), Early Modern Art History (Bochnak) and
Contemporary Art History (Dobrowolski); Mole remain-
ed head of the Institute right until his retirement in 1960.
During the period of Poland’s imposed isolation from
world science, the activity of Mole opened wider
cognitive perspectives before the students, yet it was
chiefly the generation of professors born around the
year 1900, the students of Pagaczewski and, to a lesser
degree, of Mycielski or Szydłowski, who continued the
interwar tradition of Cracow art history, namely that of
formal research on art history, that decided about the
academic and didactic character of the Institute.
Among these professors it was Adam Bochnak
(1899-1974), Mole’s successor at the post of director of the
Institute, a conscientious researcher and teacher, that in all
likelihood played the most important role. As a student,
close collaborator and friend of Pagaczewski, he was
professionally associated with the University already from
his early student days; throughout all that time, he
remained faithful to the academic interests and method of
pursuing art history by his master. Out of his vast and
varied academic output, it is papers devoted to Polish
handicrafts, and especially those relating to goldsmithery
and weaving that have the greatest value. Bochnak was
also the first one to have written a history of Polish
art history. Mycielski’s student, Tadeusz Dobrowolski
(1899-1984), who also graduated from the Academy of
Fine Aits, was interested in the painting of all periods, but
after the war, he focused mainly on the art of the 19th and
20th centuries. With a critical attitude towards the avant-
garde, he was the only one in Cracow who tried to use the
rather superficially acquired Marxist method which was
interpreted by him in a rather commonsense way.
Endowed with an exceptional writing talent, he left behind
him a few comprehensive studies which had the character
of a textbook (among others, Nowoczesne malarstwo
polskie [Modern Polish Painting], III vols. 1957-1964).
After becoming director of the Royal Wawel Castle, the
younger Jerzy Szabłowski (1906-1989), author of
15