Aniela Pajakowna Selfportrait with daughter 1907

Aniela Pająkówna (1864,

Medyka Medyka () is a village in Przemyśl County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland, on the border with Ukraine. It is the seat of the municipality (gmina) called Gmina Medyka. It lies approximately east of Przemyśl and east of the r ...

- 24 April 1912,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a Polish painter; mostly of portraits. Her daughter was the dramatist

Stanisława Przybyszewska Stanisława Przybyszewska (; 1 October 1901 – 15 August 1935) was a Polish dramatist who is mostly known for her plays about the French Revolution. Her 1929 play '' The Danton Case'', which examines the conflict between Maximilien Robespierre ...

Biography

Her father was a coachman. Thanks to the generosity of his employers, the journalist and political activist and his wife Helena (née Dzieduszycka), she was able to study art; first in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

with

Florian Cynk Florian Stanisław Cynk (3 May 1838 – 10 October 1912) was a Polish painter, notably of religious subjects, and a prominent art teacher. He also worked as an illustrator. Biography He was born in Kraków and began his studies at the Academ ...

then, after 1886, in Paris at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

and the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

with

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of Upper class, high society in French Third Republic, Third Rep ...

and

Jean-Jacques Henner Jean-Jacques Henner (5 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects and portraits. Biography Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his stud ...

.Brief biography
@ the Internetowy Polski Słownik Biograficzny. She also spent some time studying in Munich. In 1891, she returned to Poland, settled in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and set up her own studio. She had her first exhibition at the Society of Friends of Fine Art in 1896. The following year, she began to exhibit with the

Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts The Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts (, TPSP) is a social group of artists, artisans and their supporters founded in Kraków in 1854, under the Austrian Partition of Poland. Today, the Society operates from the Art Nouveau Palace of Art ere ...

and participated in a major show at the

Cloth Hall A cloth hall or linen hall (; ; ; ) is a historic building located in the centre of the main marketplace of a European town. Cloth halls were built from Medieval architecture, medieval times into the 18th century. A cloth hall contained trading st ...

in 1899. She also exhibited abroad; notably at the

Vienna Künstlerhaus The Künstlerhaus in Vienna's 1st district has accommodated the Künstlerhaus Vereinigung since 1868. It is located in the Ringstrassenzone in between Akademiestraße, Bösendorferstraße and Musikvereinsplatz. The building was erected betwee ...

and the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name i ...

. In 1898, she met

Stanisław Przybyszewski Stanisław Przybyszewski (; 7 May 1868 – 23 November 1927) was a Polish novelist, dramatist, and poet of the decadent naturalistic school. His drama is associated with the Symbolist movement. He wrote both in Polish and in German. Life Stani ...

in Lwów, where he was giving a lecture on Chopin. Later, they had a brief affair, resulting in the birth of her daughter, Stanisława. For a time, she also took care of his daughter Iwa, from his marriage to

Dagny Juel Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska (8 June 1867 – 5 June 1901) was a Norwegian writer, famous for her liaisons with various prominent artists, and for the dramatic circumstances of her death. She was the model for some of Edvard Munch's paintings. S ...

. In 1907, facing discrimination for being a single mother with an illegitimate child, she and her daughter began moving about; first to Vienna, then

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and Munich, finally settling in Paris in 1909. She died there, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, three years later. Stanisława was placed in the care of an aunt.(p
nekropole.info
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References

External links

"Aniela Pająkówna – Malarka z Medyki"
by Bartusz Jakubowski @ the Jagiellonian Digital Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Pajakowna, Aniela 1864 births 1912 deaths 19th-century Polish painters 20th-century Polish painters Polish portrait painters Académie Colarossi alumni Académie Julian alumni Deaths from pneumonia in France People from Przemyśl County Painters from Austria-Hungary Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to France 20th-century Polish women painters