|
Krzyzanowski, Konrad
(b Kremenchuk [now Kremenchug, Ukraine], 15 Feb 1872; d Warsaw, 23 May 1922). Polish painter and teacher. From c. 1887 he studied in Kiev at the Drawing School of Nikolay Murashko (1844–1909) and then (1892–7) at the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg under Klavdy Lebedev (1852–1916) and Ivan Tvorozhnikov (1848–1919). He was also helped by advice from Arkhip Kuindzhi. In 1897 Krzyzanowski left for Munich where he studied at Simon Hollósy’s school. In 1898 Krzyzanowski visited Italy and in 1900 he settled in Warsaw. He was largely influenced by contemporary modernist currents, with elements of Symbolism and Expressionism, and his skill as a portrait painter was already apparent, as in his portrait of a Russian Actress (1897; Torun Dist. Mus.), or of the writer Maria Krzymuska (c. 1900; Warsaw N. Mus.). Such early portraits are distinguished by the strength of their character representation, their brilliantly executed painting technique, their monochromatic colour range, their bold use of light and shade, and the deep feeling of the mood they generate. In 1904–9, Krzyzanowski was a professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts and accompanied his students on summer plein-air painting trips. He painted many landscapes himself at this time, mainly small sketches, which he treated as synthetic, dynamic, free impressions, as in Clouds (1906; Warsaw, N. Mus.). He continued to paint portraits, such as Small Girl by the Piano (1907; Kraków, priv. col., see 1980 exh. cat., pl. vii), but after about 1904 these were usually calmer in mood, wider in colour range and more concerned with the sitter’s character. Notable among his portraits from this time are the picture of the Artist’s Wife Kneeling on a Couch (1911; Poznan, N. Mus.), and his startlingly expressive portrait of Pelagia Witoslawska (1912; Warsaw, N. Mus.), shown staring bleakly at the spectator. After spending a period of six years away from Warsaw (1912 in Paris and London, 1914–16 in Wolyn and 1916–18 in Kiev), Krzyzanowski returned to Warsaw in 1918 and opened his own school of painting. During the last years of his life, he mainly painted portraits of a more restrained and private nature, as in his Marshal Józef Pilsudski (1920; Warsaw, Mus. Pol. Army). Krzyzanowski taught many of the leading Polish artists of the two decades between the wars.
|
