On the Rocky Podhale
Tatra Mountains in the Works of Young Poland Artists: Jan Stanisławski and Leon Wyczółkowski
Tatra Mountains in the winter (1891) by Jan StanisławskiThe National Museum in Krakow
It is not known whether these artists knew Karol Szymanowski. Stanisławski died in 1907, Wyczółkowski visited the Tatra region up to 1926, so they might have met.
Their works illustrate not only Szymanowski’s music and Przerwa-Tetmajer’s poetry, they also make us aware of the significance of the Tatras for the whole Polish art of the time.
Clouds – Zakopane (1904) by Jan StanisławskiThe National Museum in Krakow
Fashion for Zakopane
The last quarter of the 19th century and the period before the outbreak of World War I was a time of fashion for Zakopane, it became a meeting place of artists, musicians, politicians, writers, philosophers and scholars...
... not only those from the three partitions but also those coming from exile. The Tatra Mountains, towering over Zakopane, were the centre of attention, acquiring a mystical and symbolic dimension both in art and literature.
To quote the chronicler of the day Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, The Tatras, eulogised by Goszczyński, discovered by Chałubiński, made more familiar by Witkiewicz and his 'Na przełęczy' ('On the Mountain Pass'), described in Asnyk’s impeccable strophes, did not achieve their full poetical effectiveness until the Young Poland era.
The Czarny Staw Tarn – Blizzard (1892) by Stanisław WitkiewiczThe National Museum in Krakow
Tatras and poetry
The works of Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer played a huge role in Tatra literature. Like an Impressionist painter, he was able to capture a fleeting impression, the transience and changeability of nature in his poems.
To quote him, They are looking at me unchanging, always the same cold and sad – and always faithful. I love them. They have taught me to think and feel, rhyme and colour words, and they give me dreams, they put sticky fingers on my eyes and close my lids, then bend my head backwards, touch my lips with a finger and whisper: be quiet. Then I can see the life of the powers and elements of nature. (…) My soul escapes towards these powers and elements of nature which experienced the tragedy of physical existence.
Monk at Morskie Oko (1904) by Leon WyczółkowskiThe National Museum in Krakow
Leon Wyczółkowski (1852–1936)
Wyczółkowski arrived in Zakopane for the first time in 1896. From then on, almost once a year – until 1926 – he visited Zakopane almost every year, and the inaccessible Tatra ridges, screes and tarns reflecting the mountains began to prevail in his art.
The years 1904–1906 culminated in the most famous pastel portraits of the Tatra Mountains: Monk at the Sea Eye, At the Gates of Chałubiński, Black Lake - synthetic in form, sparing in color, but thus true and poignant.
From 1906 dates a portfolio entitled "Tatry. Ósm akwatint" (The Tatras. Eight Aquatints), consisting of mountain views almost abstract in form, monochromatic in colour and exceptionally true in mood. In 1914, Wyczółkowski made illustrations, similar in mood, for the jubilee edition of Tetmajer’s Na Skalnym Podhalu.
Clouds – Zakopane (1904) by Jan StanisławskiThe National Museum in Krakow
Jan Stanisławski (1860–1907)
Stanisławski and his students came to Zakopane for the first time in 1902, and it was then when views of the Tatra Mountains became part of the painting programme of Young Poland.
To the Zakopane countryside ‘the capers’, as the master and his disciples were called, went singing all the time, proud of being the chosen ones from the Academy (...). The master would visit them every few days. They spent the first day stretching canvases and priming them as well as looking for motifs, and then young painters went in different directions, like a flock of sheep. A line of easels could be seen along the stream. They would paint from breakfast to lunch and then in the evening, until dusk.
Jan Stanisławski was known for small, very quickly created paintings. In painting, he showed the changeability of light in nature.
Landscape (1890) by Jan StanisławskiThe National Museum in Krakow
Journeys to Zakopane were trips full of painting yields and cheering together. The artists spent time together working, singing, laughing and traveling.
As one of his students recalls, Stanisławski wanted his students to love and understand nature. He instilled his burning enthusiasm in their souls, kindled their fascinations, demanded invincible honesty, energy and emotions in works, he eradicated any posturing, cheap tricks and empty words, without the slightest sobriety he shared his knowledge, his great artistic culture, demanding only enthusiasm, love for work, courage and creative joy in return.
Text: Urszula Kozakowska-Zaucha, selection: Agata Jabłońska
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