DOI article:
Gumińska, Bronisława: Feliks Manggha Jasieński: Wszyscy marzymy, by dosięgnąć księżyca...
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26693#0067
Feliks Manggha Jasieński. Summary 65
Feliks Manggha Jasieński. “We all dream of reaching the Moon...”
Summary
Commonly known by his nickname Manggha, Feliks Jasieński, one of the most notable
Polish art collectors, is among the most generous benefactors of the National Museum in
Kraków. Therefore, a presentation of this interesting figurę is preceded by a discussion
of the Deed of Donation of his collection to the Museum, dated 11 March 1920. With its
nearly 20,000 inventoried items, the collections is a very comprehensive one that reflected
the tastes of a man of versatile interests in the humanities, a friend of artists and a passio-
nate national culture activist. Travels across Europę, visits to Germany, France, England,
Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Spain as well as a trip to the Near East had a tre-
mendous impact on Feliks Jasieńskis intellectual personality. As a habitue at museums,
galleries, artists studios, theatres, concert halls, opera houses, libraries, antiąue shops as
well as Near Each bazaars he was highly involved in the cultural life of key European art
circles. Good knowledge of European culture had a major effect on the way his collecting
passion developed. It was sparked off by a set of Japanese objects, the embryo of a collec-
tion he kept extending throughout his lifetime by embracing morę and morę art areas. He
had wide contacts in the art world and was well-read, particularly carefully studying art
criticism. All that paved his way to his own literary activity, which achieved its fullest in
the extensive essay Manggha. Promenades a travers le monde, lart et les idees, published
at the same time in Paris and Warsaw in 1901. Both the book and its continuation Polish
Manggha, which was published in 1911 in episodes in “Miesięcznik Literacki i Artystycz-
ny”, a literary and art monthly that came out in Kraków, strengthened Jasieńskis position
of an art expert. His essay was modeled after Journal des Goncourt by the brothers Ed-
mond and Jules de Goncourt, whom Jasieński appreciated a lot, mostly for “.. ,discovering
Japanese art for the West”. The title of the book and the collectors nickname are a refe-
rence to the title Katsushika Hokusai gave to its sketchbook. Jasieńskis Manggha, much
like the Japanese Hokusai Manga, is a collection of miscellaneous sketches. It contains
reflections on the sites and people the author had come across, and a number of areas of
the broadly defined culture: visual arts, literaturę, musie and philosophy. Presented vivi-
dly, in witty style, the essays are surprisingly unconventional in their interpretations that
bear witness to the author being a penetrating observer and aesthete, both impulsive and
compulsive, who drew lavishly on the European literary heritage and humanistic ideas of
the most outstanding intellectuals of the age.
Feliks Jasieńskis overall literary output and the collection are a manga in its own right:
a fruit of his individual likings, passions and sentiments. It reflects fascinating traits of its
creators personality, without, however, disclosing the entire truth about him. The truth
was veiled in theatrical costumes and masks but another thing Feliks Jasieński left for us is
“the innocent pleasure of unmasking it”.
Feliks Manggha Jasieński. “We all dream of reaching the Moon...”
Summary
Commonly known by his nickname Manggha, Feliks Jasieński, one of the most notable
Polish art collectors, is among the most generous benefactors of the National Museum in
Kraków. Therefore, a presentation of this interesting figurę is preceded by a discussion
of the Deed of Donation of his collection to the Museum, dated 11 March 1920. With its
nearly 20,000 inventoried items, the collections is a very comprehensive one that reflected
the tastes of a man of versatile interests in the humanities, a friend of artists and a passio-
nate national culture activist. Travels across Europę, visits to Germany, France, England,
Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Spain as well as a trip to the Near East had a tre-
mendous impact on Feliks Jasieńskis intellectual personality. As a habitue at museums,
galleries, artists studios, theatres, concert halls, opera houses, libraries, antiąue shops as
well as Near Each bazaars he was highly involved in the cultural life of key European art
circles. Good knowledge of European culture had a major effect on the way his collecting
passion developed. It was sparked off by a set of Japanese objects, the embryo of a collec-
tion he kept extending throughout his lifetime by embracing morę and morę art areas. He
had wide contacts in the art world and was well-read, particularly carefully studying art
criticism. All that paved his way to his own literary activity, which achieved its fullest in
the extensive essay Manggha. Promenades a travers le monde, lart et les idees, published
at the same time in Paris and Warsaw in 1901. Both the book and its continuation Polish
Manggha, which was published in 1911 in episodes in “Miesięcznik Literacki i Artystycz-
ny”, a literary and art monthly that came out in Kraków, strengthened Jasieńskis position
of an art expert. His essay was modeled after Journal des Goncourt by the brothers Ed-
mond and Jules de Goncourt, whom Jasieński appreciated a lot, mostly for “.. ,discovering
Japanese art for the West”. The title of the book and the collectors nickname are a refe-
rence to the title Katsushika Hokusai gave to its sketchbook. Jasieńskis Manggha, much
like the Japanese Hokusai Manga, is a collection of miscellaneous sketches. It contains
reflections on the sites and people the author had come across, and a number of areas of
the broadly defined culture: visual arts, literaturę, musie and philosophy. Presented vivi-
dly, in witty style, the essays are surprisingly unconventional in their interpretations that
bear witness to the author being a penetrating observer and aesthete, both impulsive and
compulsive, who drew lavishly on the European literary heritage and humanistic ideas of
the most outstanding intellectuals of the age.
Feliks Jasieńskis overall literary output and the collection are a manga in its own right:
a fruit of his individual likings, passions and sentiments. It reflects fascinating traits of its
creators personality, without, however, disclosing the entire truth about him. The truth
was veiled in theatrical costumes and masks but another thing Feliks Jasieński left for us is
“the innocent pleasure of unmasking it”.