A complete artist: painter, printmaker, poet, dramatist, stage designer, reformer of theatre, uncompromising visionary. His ideas were sometimes controversial – he proposed converting Wawel Hill into Poland’s answer to the Acropolis – and as such not all were implemented; however, the spirit of his art and personality permeates Kraków until today.
The National Museum in Krakow holds close to 900 works by Stanisław Wyspiański (1869-1907). The artist himself donated his monumental pastel designs for stained-glass windows for the Wawel Cathedral. After he died, a committee of eminent representatives of artistic, cultural and academic circles in Kraków was founded to gather his artworks at the National Museum.
The entire collection goes on show at the exhibition at the Main Building of the National Museum in Krakow, entitled simply Wyspiański (from 28 November), held to commemorate the anniversary of his passing. We will see a vast collection of drawings including sketches dating back to Wyspiański’s school days, stage designs, typographic design, portraits and landscapes, as well as designs of decorations for the Franciscan Church in Kraków, Wawel Cathedral and the residence of the Medical Association. There will also be crafts, sculptures, prints and art books. The monographic exhibition provides a comprehensive review of the works by the leading proponent of the Young Poland movement, revealing how he brought together different genres into a comprehensive whole and how his artistic vision “shaped by the power of talent into a distinctive national style” continues to influence Polish identity until the present day. (dd)
See also: Wyspiański Liberates