FreePolish1869–1907
Stanisław Wyspiański
A Kraków painter, playwright and designer, and the most many-sided artist of the Young Poland years. He drew his family and friends in pastel, designed stained glass, furniture and stage sets, and his play The Wedding (1901) made him a national figure. He died in 1907, aged 38.
A life in paintings
- 1869Born
- 1887Studied with Jan MatejkoKraków
Matejko knew Wyspiański as a boy through the Stankiewicz family that raised him and gave him his first artistic guidance. When Wyspiański entered the Kraków School of Fine Arts in 1887, Matejko, its head, asked him to help with the painted decoration of St Mary's Basilica.
Source: Wikipedia - 1889Worked with Józef MehofferKraków and Paris
Born the same year, they worked together on St Mary's Basilica in Kraków, designing 36 stained-glass windows for Matejko's restoration, then went to Paris and shared a studio, first at 14 rue de l'Échaudé and later at 14 avenue du Maine. They drew and painted each other constantly; the National Museum in Poznań calls Mehoffer Wyspiański's close friend and artistic rival.
Source: National Museum in Kraków - 1891Was friends with Paul GauguinParis
During his Paris years Wyspiański got to know Gauguin, and the two visited art museums together, where Wyspiański was captivated by Puvis de Chavannes. An acquaintance rather than a close friendship; no influence on Wyspiański's work is documented.
Source: Wikipedia - 1894
- 1907Died
Circles
School · Kraków
Kraków School of Fine Arts
Kraków's art school, which Matejko later directed until his death in 1893; it was eventually renamed the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts. His students there included Maurycy Gottlieb, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer and Stanisław Wyspiański.
- Jan Matejko
- Józef Mehoffer
Society · Kraków · 1897
Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka"
Founded in Kraków in 1897 after the 'Separate Exhibition' at the Cloth Hall, to assert a modern Polish art while Poland was partitioned. Founding members included Wyspiański, Mehoffer, Malczewski, Wyczółkowski, Axentowicz, Fałat, Chełmoński and Stanisławski; it spanned all of Young Poland's styles.
- Józef Mehoffer
Workshop · Kraków · 1889
St Mary's Basilica restoration (1889–1891)
Matejko painted and funded the new murals of Kraków's St Mary's Basilica during its 1887–1891 renovation, working with his students Wyspiański and Mehoffer, who designed the presbytery stained glass.
- Jan Matejko
- Józef Mehoffer