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Lecture by Artur Górski "Mickiewicz - dead and alive"

Stanislaw Kuczborski1905

The National Museum in Warsaw

The National Museum in Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland

Stanisław Kuczborski (1881–1911), painter, draughtsman and cartoonist, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and, after that, in Paris. He came from an artistic family – his mother was the sister of Aleksander and Maksymilian Gierymski. Kuczborski is one of the authors of the works gathered in Teka Melpomeny – a collection of lithographs published in 1904 in Cracow under the supervision of Stanisław Szreniawa-Rzecki and printed in Aureliusz Pruszyński's lithographic printing house. Teka included caricatures of Cracow's actors, immortalized in their distinctive roles. The artist is also known to be the co-creator of the famous Zielony Balonik [Little Green Balloon] cabaret, started in a cafe called Jama Michalikowa, founded by Jan Apolinary Michalik – the initiator of Teka Melpomeny. His professional activity also included graphic design and collaboration with the Liberum Veto Magazine, where he published his drawings.

The showcased work announces a lecture by Artur Górski, Mickiewicz – dead and alive, organized by the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Górski (1870–1959), a writer and literary critic, in 1898 published a series of articles titled Młoda Polska [Young Poland] in the Cracow-based daily newspaper Życie, due to which the name for a new period in visual arts and literature was adopted.

The poster by Kuczborski, monochromatic and minimalistic in terms of the means used, is a portrait of Mickiewicz with oak branches and leaves in the background – the oak being a tree symbolic to perseverance and power of spirit – enclosed in a rectangular frame. The poet is portrayed in an en trois quarts view with semi-closed eyes and drawn with casual sketch line. The lower part of the poster's composition contains information about the event, formatted in a block-like shape – perfectly balanced with the graphic.

Details

  • Title: Lecture by Artur Górski "Mickiewicz - dead and alive"
  • Creator: Stanislaw Kuczborski
  • Creator Lifespan: 1881 - 1911
  • Creator Death Place: Warsaw
  • Creator Birth Place: Warsaw
  • Date: 1905
  • Inv. no.: Pl.1064/1
  • Type: Posters
  • Medium: lithography

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