DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41455#0181
Jozef
Mehoffer
1869 Ropczyce - 1946 Wadowice
The family of Jozef Mehoffer had come from Aus-
tria and settled in Galicia in the first half of the
nineteenth century. The future artist spent his ear-
liest childhood in Ropczyce, where his father was a coun-
sellor-at-law. After the father’s death in 1873, the Mehoffers
moved to Cracow. Jozef attended school there - first in
Larisch Square, and then, from 1879, at St. Anne’s Lycee.
His friendship with Stanislaw Wyspianski dates back to
that early period. In 1887, Mehoffer went to the Jagellonian
University to study law, while simultaneously undertaking
the study of painting at the School of Fine Arts, under
Wladyslaw tuszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko. A mere two
years later, Matejko accepted him as a collaborator during
his work on the interior decoration of St. Mary’s Church in
Cracow. In 1889, Mehoffer moved to the Academy in Vien-
na, and in the following year returned to the Cracow School
for one semester. In the spring of 1891, Mehoffer was
granted a scholarship for further studies in Paris. On the
way to France, he stopped in Vienna, where he completed
his law studies (without, however, presenting a disserta-
tion). He next visited Salzburg, Innsbruck and Basle.
In Paris, Mehoffer lived and worked with Wyspianski,
and made friends with Wladyslaw Slewiriski. He adopt-
ed a very ambitious approach to his studies, enrolling at
the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs, the Academie
Colarossi (the ateliers of Gustave Courtois and Joseph-
Paul Blanc), and in 1892, also the Ecole Nationale des
Beaux-Arts (the studio of Leon Bonnat). Mehoffer’s stud-
ies in Paris lasted until 1896, with a year’s break in
1894-1895.
In 1895, Mehoffer won a commission to design
stained-glass windows for Fribourg Cathedral in Switzer-
land. This monumental artistic project took over forty
years to complete. In 1896, the artist moved back to
Cracow for good. A year later, he became a founder-
member of the Polish Artists’ Society “Sztuka” and then
also of the Historical Society of Cracow. In 1899, he
married Jadwiga Janakowska, whose portraits he subse-
quently painted on numerous occasions. In 1897, Me-
hoffer made a trip to the Alps, and in 1900 spent some
months in Italy. That year marked the beginning of the
artist’s long-lasting association with the Academy of Fine
Arts in Cracow, where he was initially an Associate Pro-
fessor, from 1905 a full Professor, and in the years 1914-
1918 and 1932-1933 - Rector.
The Fribourg commission and post at the Academy
secured Jozef Mehoffer’s professional and financial stand-
ing. Between 1900 and 1918, he owned an estate at
Jankowka near Wieliczka, where he painted many pic-
tures and entertained numerous eminent artists and men
of letters. During the inter-war period, Mehoffer contin-
ued his teaching and artistic activities. He also partici-
pated in the organization of the Polish Institute of Fine
Arts and was on the editorial board on the high-quality
Sztuki Pigkne [Fine Arts] monthly. After the outbreak of
the Second World War, Mehoffer was arrested by the
Nazis and sent to the concentration camp at As in Czecho-
slovakia. Thanks to an intervention from the Vatican and
the Italian government, he was released and allowed to
return to his Cracow home.
Jozef Mehoffer was a highly versatile painter. In the
field of oil painting, he created with equal ease symbol-
ic compositions, genre scenes, portraits and landscape
studies. In his monumental works - stained-glass win-
dows and murals - he took up religious and historical
subjects. As a graphic artist, he also created lithographs,
posters and illustrations, worked as an art designer for
various publications, and even designed banknotes and
stamps. He wrote articles and critical studies on art, and
as a young man kept a journal. Mehoffer’s work com-
bines a high artistic level with decorative qualities, and
the use of modern means of expression with a sense of
appropriateness, which is so important in all works done
for the church. As a result, Mehoffer’s painting was seen
as modern and even trend-setting, but did not provoke
protests or controversies, which was ,the case with Wy-
spiariski’s art. Mehoffer’s career spanned several dec-
ades of continuous success and prestigious commissions.
The artist exhibited from 1894 and received numerous
awards and distinctions - for instance, in Lvov (1894),
Paris (1900, 1925), and St. Louis (1905) - as well as Aus-
trian and Polish orders. Since 1996, Jozef Mehoffer’s
house in Krupnicza Street in Cracow, painstakingly re-
stored and furnished with items and numerous paint-
ings that once belonged to the artist, has been opened
to the public as a branch of the National Museum in
Cracow.
188
Mehoffer
1869 Ropczyce - 1946 Wadowice
The family of Jozef Mehoffer had come from Aus-
tria and settled in Galicia in the first half of the
nineteenth century. The future artist spent his ear-
liest childhood in Ropczyce, where his father was a coun-
sellor-at-law. After the father’s death in 1873, the Mehoffers
moved to Cracow. Jozef attended school there - first in
Larisch Square, and then, from 1879, at St. Anne’s Lycee.
His friendship with Stanislaw Wyspianski dates back to
that early period. In 1887, Mehoffer went to the Jagellonian
University to study law, while simultaneously undertaking
the study of painting at the School of Fine Arts, under
Wladyslaw tuszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko. A mere two
years later, Matejko accepted him as a collaborator during
his work on the interior decoration of St. Mary’s Church in
Cracow. In 1889, Mehoffer moved to the Academy in Vien-
na, and in the following year returned to the Cracow School
for one semester. In the spring of 1891, Mehoffer was
granted a scholarship for further studies in Paris. On the
way to France, he stopped in Vienna, where he completed
his law studies (without, however, presenting a disserta-
tion). He next visited Salzburg, Innsbruck and Basle.
In Paris, Mehoffer lived and worked with Wyspianski,
and made friends with Wladyslaw Slewiriski. He adopt-
ed a very ambitious approach to his studies, enrolling at
the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs, the Academie
Colarossi (the ateliers of Gustave Courtois and Joseph-
Paul Blanc), and in 1892, also the Ecole Nationale des
Beaux-Arts (the studio of Leon Bonnat). Mehoffer’s stud-
ies in Paris lasted until 1896, with a year’s break in
1894-1895.
In 1895, Mehoffer won a commission to design
stained-glass windows for Fribourg Cathedral in Switzer-
land. This monumental artistic project took over forty
years to complete. In 1896, the artist moved back to
Cracow for good. A year later, he became a founder-
member of the Polish Artists’ Society “Sztuka” and then
also of the Historical Society of Cracow. In 1899, he
married Jadwiga Janakowska, whose portraits he subse-
quently painted on numerous occasions. In 1897, Me-
hoffer made a trip to the Alps, and in 1900 spent some
months in Italy. That year marked the beginning of the
artist’s long-lasting association with the Academy of Fine
Arts in Cracow, where he was initially an Associate Pro-
fessor, from 1905 a full Professor, and in the years 1914-
1918 and 1932-1933 - Rector.
The Fribourg commission and post at the Academy
secured Jozef Mehoffer’s professional and financial stand-
ing. Between 1900 and 1918, he owned an estate at
Jankowka near Wieliczka, where he painted many pic-
tures and entertained numerous eminent artists and men
of letters. During the inter-war period, Mehoffer contin-
ued his teaching and artistic activities. He also partici-
pated in the organization of the Polish Institute of Fine
Arts and was on the editorial board on the high-quality
Sztuki Pigkne [Fine Arts] monthly. After the outbreak of
the Second World War, Mehoffer was arrested by the
Nazis and sent to the concentration camp at As in Czecho-
slovakia. Thanks to an intervention from the Vatican and
the Italian government, he was released and allowed to
return to his Cracow home.
Jozef Mehoffer was a highly versatile painter. In the
field of oil painting, he created with equal ease symbol-
ic compositions, genre scenes, portraits and landscape
studies. In his monumental works - stained-glass win-
dows and murals - he took up religious and historical
subjects. As a graphic artist, he also created lithographs,
posters and illustrations, worked as an art designer for
various publications, and even designed banknotes and
stamps. He wrote articles and critical studies on art, and
as a young man kept a journal. Mehoffer’s work com-
bines a high artistic level with decorative qualities, and
the use of modern means of expression with a sense of
appropriateness, which is so important in all works done
for the church. As a result, Mehoffer’s painting was seen
as modern and even trend-setting, but did not provoke
protests or controversies, which was ,the case with Wy-
spiariski’s art. Mehoffer’s career spanned several dec-
ades of continuous success and prestigious commissions.
The artist exhibited from 1894 and received numerous
awards and distinctions - for instance, in Lvov (1894),
Paris (1900, 1925), and St. Louis (1905) - as well as Aus-
trian and Polish orders. Since 1996, Jozef Mehoffer’s
house in Krupnicza Street in Cracow, painstakingly re-
stored and furnished with items and numerous paint-
ings that once belonged to the artist, has been opened
to the public as a branch of the National Museum in
Cracow.
188