Title of the week

Stefan Norblin, full name: Juliusz Stefan Norblin de la Gourdaine (1892–1952), great-grandson of Jean Pierre Norblin, a French painter from the turn of the 19th century.

Alfred Lenica ( 1899-1977) is considered one of the most significant artists of the Polish 20th century avant-garde. He was a co-founder of the 4F + R Group, participated in the 1st Exhibition of Modern Art in Poland, was a member of the Cracow Group, friend of Tadeusz Kantor, Jerzy Kujawski and Erna Rosenstein;  his works were exhibited at numerous art shows in Poland and abroad, and he is credited with painting the very first Polish picture in the Tachisme style as well as a large-size painting in the UN Building in Geneva. He was no less successful  as a family man: his son Jan became an eminent poster illustrator, and his daughter Danuta, a talented book illustrator and a professional pianist, married one of the greatest Polish contemporary writers, Tadeusz Konwicki.

A boxed set of three mini-albums on outstanding Polish female painters – Olga Boznańska, Tamara de Lempicka, and Zofia Stryjeńska.

Piotr Michałowski — painter and draughtsman, the key representative of Romanticism in Polish 19th-century art, as well as a public officer and social activist.

The artist featured in another mini-album in the Painting series is Maksymilian Gierymski (1846–1874) – a painter and draughtsman, an insurgent in the January Uprising, elder brother of Aleksander – a painter like himself.

Tadeusz Makowski (1882–1932), presented in another album in the popular Painting series, lived and painted mainly in France, where he travelled after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (1908) and where he stayed for the rest of his life.

Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980) is the world’s most famous Polish female artist. Her paintings rank among the best-sellers and are purchased for staggering prices at auctions. The queen of art déco was born into a wealthy, influential family. From early childhood she was interested in art, which was her frequent companion.

The album presents the works by painter and draughtsman Konrad Krzyżanowski (1872–1922). He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, where he got interested in portrait and landscape painting and started to develop his unmistakable dynamic style.

Julian Fałat (1853–1929) – an artist of the Young Poland movement, representative of landscape and genre painting. Graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Kraków and the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

Another mini-album in the Painting series is dedicated to the works of Aleksander Gierymski – one of the most outstanding artists associated with Polish realism and impressionism.

Wojciech Weiss (1875–1950) – painter, draughtsman, and graphic artist, one of the top representatives of Young Poland. Three-time rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, actively involved with the local artistic circles. Fascinated by the philosophy and aesthetics of Young Poland, at first he created pessimistic and decadent paintings full of distress and passion.

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) is among the most prominent Spanish artists and one of the greatest artists of the turn of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. He was an extremely prolific artist. He created over 2,000 paintings, graphic designs and drawings. Goya’s most typical works are portraits, which he produced while he was the court painter for the king, and a series of the so-called Black Paintings created after he recovered from a serious illness.