Stanisław Witkiewicz

Stanisław Witkiewicz studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. The recorded working language is Polish. Work by Stanisław Witkiewicz is recorded in the collections of National Museum in Warsaw, National Museum in Kraków, Museum of Art in Łódź and Museum of Middle Pomerania in Słupsk. Distinctions recorded are Cross of Independence.

• Name — Stanisław Witkiewicz • Born — 8 May 1851 • Birthplace — Pašiaušė, Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania) • Place of death — Lovran, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) • Spouse — Maria Pietrzkiewicz • Children — Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz • Field — Painting, architecture • Training — * Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg • Academy of Fine Arts, Munich • Style — Zakopane Style

Witkiewicz was born in the Samogitian village of Pašiaušė (Poszawsze), present-day Lithuania, ruled at the time by the Russian Empire. His parents were Ignacy and Elwira Witkiewicz. Elwira came from a wealthy Szemiot family and grew up in a palace in Diktariškiai. Ignacy Witkiewicz at the age of 17 was a participant in the November Uprising, and after it ended he settled on the family estate and took up agriculture. The legend of his brother Jan Prosper, sentenced to long-term military service for his patriotic activities at school age, was alive in the family. In the Russian army, he made a career as a researcher of Central Asia and a diplomat, and in the family tradition was considered a “Polish Wallenrod,” seeking to provoke a Russian-British conflict. Elwira's brother was Franciszek Szemiot, a commander in the November Uprising, then traveling the world looking for opportunities to fight for a free Poland, he was friends with Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, the latter dedicated a poem to him. The memory of heroic family members influenced the patriotic atmosphere of the household. Ignacy and Elwira had twelve children, the first daughter Elwira was born in 1840, followed by Angelika, Wiktor, Anna, Barbara, Jan, Ignacy, Stanisław, Maria, Aniela and Eugenia, born in 1856. Three daughters, Angelika, Anna and Justyna died in childhood. The Witkiewicz family, especially Elwira, sought to raise the consciousness of the people, adhering to democratic views similar to those preached by Szymon Konarski's Association of the Polish People. Elwira founded a hospital for peasants in Pašiaušė and a school for their children, where her eldest daughter taught them in Polish and Lithuanian. Lithuanian was also taught to all the Witkiewicz children. As an adolescent, he spent several years in Siberian Tomsk, where his parents and two older siblings were exiled for their support of the January Uprising. He was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg (1868–1871) and furthered his education in Munich (1872–1875). During his stay in Munich, he befriended painters Aleksander Gierymski, Józef Chełmoński and Henryk Siemiradzki. In 1875, he moved to Warsaw and set up a painting workshop in the laundry at the Hotel Europejski. In 1884, he married Maria Pietrzkiewicz. The pair had a son, Stanisław Ignacy. The son's godmother was the internationally famous actress Helena Modjeska, whom the elder Witkiewicz in 1876 had nearly accompanied to California in the United States. In 1884–1887, Witkiewicz worked as the artistic director of "Wędrowiec" weekly, for which he wrote a series of articles concerning the values of a work of art and the role of art critics (published in book form under the title "Painting and criticism among us", Sztuka i krytyka u nas, in 1891 and 1899). In 1887, he held the same position in "Kłosy" magazine. • Illustration — Villa Konstantynówka in Zakopane. Joseph Conrad stayed there in 1914 In 1886, he visited Zakopane for the first time. He developed a fascination with the Tatra Mountains, the Podhale highlanders and their vernacular traditions. His ambition became to create a Polish national style based on the highlanders' art, which he considered quintessentially Polish. He formulated the Zakopane Style (styl zakopiański) (also known as Witkiewicz Style (styl witkiewiczowski)) in architecture, in which he designed homes and interiors for well-off, artistically-minded Poles including Bronisława Kondratowicz. He was strongly associated with Zakopane and promoted it in the art community. Witkiewicz had strong views against formal education: "School is completely at odds with the psychological make-up of human beings". He applied this principle in his son's upbringing and was disappointed when the 20-year-old Witkacy chose to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1908, suffering from tuberculosis, the elder Witkiewicz left his family in Zakopane and relocated to Lovran, a fashionable resort in what was then Austria-Hungary, which today is in Croatia. He died there in 1915. His first monographic art exhibition was staged in Zachęta Fine Arts Society in 1927. His son, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, became a famous painter, playwright, novelist and philosopher, also known (from the conflation of his surname and middle name) by the pseudonym "Witkacy."

The authorities additionally record the headings Stanislaus Witkiewicz, Stanisław Witkacy, Stanisław Witkace and Stanislaw Witkiewicz. His recorded language was Polish. He was the child of Ignacy Witkiewicz and Elwira Szemiot. He married Maria Witkiewiczowa. One child is recorded: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.