ART & ARTISTS: Feliks Michal Wygrzywalski

Friday, 22 September 2023

Feliks Michal Wygrzywalski - part 5

Self-portrait with a palette by the sea and a port
National Museum in Warsaw

Polish painter; remembered primarily for his Orientalist scenes and portraits. He also created a significant number of nudes. Thanks to a scholarship from the Malinowski Foundation, he was able to study at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich from 1893 to 1898. This was followed by some time at the Académie Julian in Paris and a study trip to Italy.

In 1900, he decided to settle in Rome and married a local woman named Rosa Imassa. His studies there consisted largely of copying the Old Masters, but he also created landscapes and nudes. Later, he provided illustrations for the Polish travel magazine, Wedrowiec (The Wanderer), as well as magazines in Germany and Russia.

In 1906, he visited Egypt, creating numerous paintings and sketches for later use. When he came back to Poland in 1908, he lived in Lwów, where he had been commissioned to paint murals at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also did some stage designs. During Worls War I, he moved to Rostov-on-Don and became a drawing professor. He returned to Lwów when the war was over.

He was a frequent participant in exhibitions, but his first personal showing came only in 1932, at the local "Society of Friends of the Fine Arts". During this period, his major work was a series of fourteen paintings, depicting the history of dance, for the sanatorium at the health resort in Krynica-Zdrój. For most of his later life, he maintained his own art salon in Lwów called, in German, "Kunstaustellung" (art exhibit). During the post-war depression, many upper-class people sold their paintings there; often entire collections.

In July 1944, at the approach of the Red Army, he was forced to flee Lwów, leaving all of his possessions behind. He found refuge at a tenement house in Rzeszów, but died only a few months later, from a stroke; possibly the result of an injury he suffered while fleeing. He was buried at the local cemetery, but his grave has not survived.

His works may be seen at numerous museums throughout Poland and Ukraine. In 2012, the city of Lódz organised an exhibition called "Between Capri and Lviv - painting travels by Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski." The following year, the National Maritime Museum, Gdansk, presented some of his works as part of a series on Polish artists and the sea.

For earlier works see parts 1 - 5 also. This is part 5 of a 5-part series on the works of Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski:

Note: Wygrzywalski often painted variations of a painting that look very similar but have minor differences.

n.d. Pulling the Nets
oil on canvas 56 x 77 cm

n.d. Pulling the Nets
oil on canvas 85.5 x 100.8 cm

n.d. Pulling the Nets
oil on cardboard 54 x 78 cm

n.d. Pulling the Nets
oil on plywood 36 x 51 cm

n.d. Pulling the Nets
oil on canvas 55 x 74 cm

n.d. Repairing the Carpet
oil on canvas 54.5 x 75 cm

n.d. Roaming Musicians
watercolour on paper 47 x 67 cm

n.d. Rocks at Capri Island
oil on plywood 44 x 59 cm

n.d. Sunset in Rome
Masovian Museum, Płock

n.d. Sunny Day
oil on canvas 50 x 70 cm

n.d. Spanish woman
oil on canvas 50 x 70 cm

n.d. Senussi Arabs praying
oil on canvas 55 x 75 cm

n.d. Self-Portrait with Harem
oil on cardboard 51 x 70 cm

n.d. Self-portrait with a string of pearls
oil on canvas 47.5 x 68 cm

n.d. Self-Portrait with a cigarette
watercolour and gouache on paper 61.5 x 86 cm

n.d. Self-Portrait outdoors
oil on canvas 77 x 86 cm

n.d. Self-Portrait as a Carpet Seller
pastel on paper 50 x 35 cm

n.d. Self-Portrait against the background of the sea
oil on canvas 50 x 69 cm