Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie (2(38).2013)

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The Museum

Matejko), a photograph (Portrait of Paweł Popiel, Portrait of Józef Piłsudski) or from nature (Self-
Portrait - fig. 7, Portrait of Mela Muter, Portrait of Leon Berenson, Portrait of Stanisław Noakowski).
He should also be appreciated as a graphic designer, author of bookplates, diplomas and oc-
casional prints, which he created both on the basis of other people’s models (Bookplate of the
National Museum in Krakow after a design by Jan Bukowski, Bookplate ofJózef Weyssenhoff after
the Bookplate of Ignacy Łoś etched by Kajetan Wincenty Kielisiński, Diploma of the Warsaw
Branch of the Imperial Society for Game Reproduction and Correct Hunting after a design by
Franciszek Ejsmond, an engraving Officer’s Commission created after a drawing by Wojciech
Jastrzębowski) or his own compositions, such as the etched Poster of the March 1917 Musical
Competition andDiploma of the Association of Rowing Societies for the Polish Championship (fig. 8).
Although the NMW is in the possession of almost the entire graphic oeuvre of Łopieński,
a second attempt at preparing a monographic exhibition of the artist’s works has not been
made. From the modern perspective, it would be possible to present his works in a broader
context than it was attempted over 70 years ago.
The odium which reproductive graphic art had to bear for many years is now a thing of
the past. Graphic artists who interpreted paintings often demonstrated great artistry and
technique, which could be the object of envy of many an artist creating original prints. The
nineteenth century was a breakthrough period for a substantial number of them, as some of
those “reproductive” etchers developed artistic self-awareness and began to create original
works, just like their contemporary peintre-graveur colleagues. This was also true for Poles
creating abroad, and Łopieński served as a link between generations and artistic approaches
in the Polish graphic arts. Today his works can be presented against a broader background.
Appropriate context could be provided by starting with the works of Henryk Redlich (1838-84),
an artist who failed to revive etching in Poland despite many efforts, international awards and
a sense of mission, going through the artistic legacy of Feliks Stanisław Jasiński (1862-1901),
whose graphic works were admired by Burne-Jones himself, and concluding with artists who
practised interpretative graphic arts - which is a more apt term for this kind of work - only
sporadically, such as Józef Pankiewicz (1866-1940). All of them created original prints as
well, but their works were very different from each other: Redlich’s etchings had the form of
realistic landscapes, similar to prints of Conrad Grefe, Jasmski’s woodcuts resembled Nabis
art, while Pankiewicz’s drypoints and etchings were a continuation of French Impressionism.
Reproductive graphic art can also be considered in the context of painters who duplicate
their original paintings using graphic techniques. Let us consider Wyczółkowskis aquatints,
which were created after his own paintings and successfully interpreted the pictorial quali-
ties in a monochromatic technique - are they reproductions or examples of fully autonomous
graphic art? Similar questions can be asked about the works of Zofia Stankiewicz.
The graphic oeuvre of the above-mentioned artists is extremely well represented in the
collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. Why, then, not make an attempt at adopting
a new viewpoint on the generations of artists who fought against the stereotype of an artisan
printmaker? Jasmski’s Nabis-influenced woodcuts juxtaposed with impressionistic etchings by
Łopieński represent the independent paths they took to develop individual artistic expression.
The museum has never housed such an exhibition as the one which did not take place in 1939.