Władysław Ślewiński - Self-portrait in a Breton hat - MP 112 MNW - National Museum in Warsaw (cropped)

Władysław Ślewiński (1 June 1856, in Nowy Białynin – 24 March 1918, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

painter. He was one of

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

's students and a leading artist of the

Young Poland Young Poland ( pl, Młoda Polska) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Pol ...

movement.

Biography

He was born to a landowning family and his mother died in childbirth. His cousin, the painter

Józef Chełmoński Józef Marian Chełmoński (November 7, 1849 – April 6, 1914) was a Polish painter of the realist school with roots in the historical and social context of the late Romantic period in partitioned Poland. He is famous for monumental painti ...

, noticed his artistic talent and advised his father to enroll him at the drawing school operated by

Wojciech Gerson Wojciech Gerson (; July 1, 1831 – February 25, 1901) was a leading Polish painter of the mid-19th century, and one of the foremost representatives of the Polish school of Realism during the foreign Partitions of Poland. He served as long-time ...

.Brief biography
@ Agra Art. His father resisted at first, but finally agreed. In 1886, he inherited his family's properties in Pilaszkowice Pierwsze, which soon led to his financial ruin. Two years later, hounded by Russian tax collectors, he fled to Paris, where he first decided to take up painting as a career. From 1888 to 1890, he studied at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian. In 1889 he made friends with

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

and became associated with the

School of Pont-Aven Pont-Aven School (french: École de Pont-Aven, br, Skol Pont Aven) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which s ...

; spending most of his time at Le Pouldu in Brittany. He was an exhibitor at the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

in 1895 and 1896. From 1905 to 1910, he was back in Poland, serving briefly as a Professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts and opening his own art school. In 1910, he returned to France. He died in the Hôpital Cochin and was buried in Bagneux.

Philosophy

Ślewiński's philosophy of art seems to stem from an excerpted statement of his about Gauguin: "He is so much an artist that he has to be wholly accepted or else rejected. I can feel him and accept him totally, for he suits my ideas of art and beauty". Beginning with his early works, he simplified forms and painted in flat areas. He encircled areas with contours, though he sometimes blended color into color. While he sometimes verged on abstraction, his lighting never departed completely from direct observation of nature. His approach to so-called subjective color was similar, as can be seen in some of the landscapes from the Tatra Mountains. Perhaps more important for Ślewiński than the selective application of synthetism was his search – inspired by Gauguin – for simplicity and sincerity in places untouched by modern civilization as well as in objects of daily use. In his art, Ślewiński concentrated on the object, infusing its materiality with the reflective sensitivity of a painter. The form and color determined the painting's atmosphere. The artist used mainly earth colors, sometimes enlivened with stronger accents. He employed a repertoire of forms with curving contours, and painted without a drawn sketch, as was characteristic of the epoch.

References

External links

More paintings
@ Pinakoteka
Władysław Ślewiński websiteThe Peak of Artistry: Painters from Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slewinski, Wladyslaw 1854 births 1918 deaths 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 20th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish male artists Pont-Aven painters Polish emigrants to France People from Sochaczew County Académie Julian alumni Académie Colarossi alumni Polish male painters