DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55687#0141
Z „okna Europy" nad Wisłę... Polscy kolekcjonerzy w Sankt Petersburgu
137
Agnieszka Kluczewska-Wójcik
From the "window to Europę" to the Vistula...
Polish art collectors in Saint Petersburg
Thanks to the steady westernization policies, Saint Petersburg grew to become the main cultural center of
the empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the city elites were many Poles who came to advance
their careers in administration. The cultural attraction of Saint Petersburg was immense. It brought in
the Polish artistic circles, who supported the Society of the Encouragement of the Arts and conducted art
expositions under the auspices of various educational institutions.
Art collections were an important part of this movement. Two distinguished collectors of the second
half of the 19th century initiated their works in Saint Petersburg - the numismatist, Emeryk Hutten-
Czapski, who eventually donated his historical collection to the National Museum in Cracow, and Cyprian
Lachnicki, the head of the Drawing Department and the Museum of Fine Arts in Warsaw - the subsequent
recipient of his collection. Both represented the earlier, aristocrat - collector type of approach.
The next generation of art collectors, active at the turn of the century, advanced from the middle class
and intelligentsia rooted in the scientific institutions of Saint Petersburg. The collections were special-
ized and explored the science and the art techniques, like the ones by Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, Julian
Talko-Hryncewicz, ot Stanisław Józef Siennicki, the latter donated his collection to the Empire Public
Library and the Rumiancev Museum in Moscow.
Eventually, the modern art movement happened in Moscow resulting in the creation of important col-
lections, like the ones of industrialists Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. Paweł Ettinger was a notable
Polish expert and collector of modern graphic art; his collection and library ended up in the Pushkin
Museum in Moscow.
137
Agnieszka Kluczewska-Wójcik
From the "window to Europę" to the Vistula...
Polish art collectors in Saint Petersburg
Thanks to the steady westernization policies, Saint Petersburg grew to become the main cultural center of
the empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the city elites were many Poles who came to advance
their careers in administration. The cultural attraction of Saint Petersburg was immense. It brought in
the Polish artistic circles, who supported the Society of the Encouragement of the Arts and conducted art
expositions under the auspices of various educational institutions.
Art collections were an important part of this movement. Two distinguished collectors of the second
half of the 19th century initiated their works in Saint Petersburg - the numismatist, Emeryk Hutten-
Czapski, who eventually donated his historical collection to the National Museum in Cracow, and Cyprian
Lachnicki, the head of the Drawing Department and the Museum of Fine Arts in Warsaw - the subsequent
recipient of his collection. Both represented the earlier, aristocrat - collector type of approach.
The next generation of art collectors, active at the turn of the century, advanced from the middle class
and intelligentsia rooted in the scientific institutions of Saint Petersburg. The collections were special-
ized and explored the science and the art techniques, like the ones by Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, Julian
Talko-Hryncewicz, ot Stanisław Józef Siennicki, the latter donated his collection to the Empire Public
Library and the Rumiancev Museum in Moscow.
Eventually, the modern art movement happened in Moscow resulting in the creation of important col-
lections, like the ones of industrialists Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. Paweł Ettinger was a notable
Polish expert and collector of modern graphic art; his collection and library ended up in the Pushkin
Museum in Moscow.