Michał Kulesza
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Michał Kulesza (; 26 November 1799 – 6 November 1863) was a Romantic painter. He was among the first lithographers in the area of the former
Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
, ruled by Russia for almost all of his life. His frequent theme, sites linked to the Grand Duchy's history, reflected the growing Lithuanian and Polish ethnic activism in the area. He lived and worked in today's southern
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
, south-eastern
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
, and north-eastern
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, and travelled around in search of new subjects for his
oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
s and lithographs. A leading landscape painter of his period, Kulesza created images that are now among the sparse visual records of the region in the first half of the 19th century.


Biography

Michał Kulesza was born in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, then the capital of Russia's
Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governo ...
. Two encyclopedic sources give the year of his birth as 1799, a few authors list 1800 without the month or day. He lived and worked in a multi-ethnic area, although he called himself a "Polish painter" when he published his work in France, he referred to the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
and from his last name ''Kulesza'', it can not be judged on his ethnicity, as it may be both Polish, as well as old Lithuanian spelling. It is not known how many languages, and how often, he spoke. He attended the notable
Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...
grade school in
Troškūnai Troškūnai () is the second smallest city in Lithuania. It is located west from Anykščiai. Etymology From the end of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century, the town was officially called ''Vladislavovas'' (in the 17th century the t ...
, his artistic training started in preparatory middle-and-high school ('' gymnasium'') back in his birthplace when he took classes with the
neoclassicist Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...
painter Jonas Damelis. He then continued at the
Imperial University of Vilnius Vilnius University (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a Public university, public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher e ...
, where
Jan Rustem Jan Rustem (; 1762 – 21 June 1835) was a painter of Armenian ethnicity who lived and worked in the territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Primarily a portrait painter, he was commissioned to execute portraits of notable perso ...
began to teach
lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
in 1819, from which he received a PhD in art in 1829. He joined the anti-Russian organization
Philomaths The Philomaths, or Philomath Society ( or ''Towarzystwo Filomatów'', or ''Filomatų draugija''; from the Greek φιλομαθεῖς "lovers of knowledge"), was a secret student organization that existed from 1817 to 1823 at the Imperial U ...
while in college and was arrested in that connection in 1823, like his younger fellow student and future writer
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish novelist, journalist, historian, publisher, painter, and musician. Born in Warsaw into a noble family, he spent much of his youth with his maternal grandparents in Romanów ...
, who later helped publicize Kulesza's paintings, but unlike his other subsequently famous fellow student and co-conspirator
Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...
, who was
deported to Siberia From 1930 to 1952, the government of the Soviet Union, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and under the direction of the NKVD official Lavrentiy Beria, forcibly Population transfer, transferred populations of various groups. These act ...
. Once on the job market, Kulesza spent about a decade as a freelance artist and private tutor in painting, and worked for the lithographic shop opened by Józef Oziębłowski in Vilnius in 1835, which became a hub for several talented artists. He travelled in the
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
and, according to one source, stayed at a residence for artists in
Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
for a time in the 1830s. He left Vilnius to take a teaching position at Kražiai Gymnasium in 1837. While plans were being drawn up to close the venerable school, he was transferred to teach painting at a high school in
Hrodna Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, from Minsk, about from the border with Poland, and from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the ad ...
two years later. In 1844 he took a position at the
Institute for Noble Maidens An Institute for Noble Maidens () was a type of educational institution and finishing school in late Imperial Russia. It was devised by Ivan Betskoy as a female-only institution for girls of noble origin. Those were "Closed female institutes of th ...
recently opened in
Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...
where he remained for the rest of his life.


Paintings and lithographs

Kulesza's main techniques were oil painting (some
tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...
), watercolor, and drawing. Among the urban and rural landscapes, including the images of the
Neman Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms Lithuania–Russia border, the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its s ...
flowing toward the horizon that critics extolled, a frequent theme in Kulesza's Romantic paintings were sites linked to the history of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
, which reflected the growing Lithuanian and Polish ethnic activism in the area. Several of his other paintings depict the interiors of churches, he made portraits, and also painted stage sets for Count Pusłowski's private theater at his palace in Kosava. His paintings were often made into lithographs for sale or publication. They decorated noble and middle-class homes in his lifetime, some have since found their way to museums around the region. Along with Wincenty Dmochowski (Vincentas Dmachauskas), Kulesza was a leading landscape painter of his place and time. The part of Europe where he lived and worked is now split among three independent countries, he is currently described as a Lithuanian, Polish, or Belarusian artist in sync with the place of publication of the text making the statement. His paintings have been given the most coverage and their themes treated as nationally relevant in Lithuania (where his name is rendered as ''Mykolas Kuleša'') in modern times, their regional and documentary pertinence has mostly been addressed in Poland and Belarus. In all of those countries, his art is now part of their shared heritage of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
. Kulesza would travel in the vicinity of the places where he lived and farther away in search of new subjects for his Romantic paintings, which are now among the sparse images of the region in the early 19th century. He contributed to the celebrated series of pictures of Vilnius conceived by
Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński (; 6 February 1806 – 2 March 1885) was a Polish-Lithuanian identity, Polish-Lithuanian medical doctor, collector and publisher. He is famous for publishing the ''Album Wileńskie'' (), which is the greatest monument of ...
that started coming out in 1845 and published his own lithographic portfolios in Paris in 1850 and 1852.


"Sts. Boris and Gleb's Church in Kalozha, Hrodna"

The subject of the 1840s
tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...
, lithographed later, is one of the oldest north European Eastern Orthodox churches, built in Kalozha (formerly ''Kolozha'') in
Hrodna Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, from Minsk, about from the border with Poland, and from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the ad ...
, now in Belarus. At the time, an art critic admired its harmony and saw the composition and color execution of the river vanishing in the foggy distance as a vehicle of deep sadness, an expression of the inertia, "dull heaviness," that permeated the provinces. The potential documentary value of the painting increased when the Neman River undercut the bank near the church in 1853, and its southern wall collapsed, but the picture pays scanty attention to architectural detail. In a modern interpretation, its focus is on the broader significance of what it depicts. The attractive darker outline of the church soaring on the steep embankment stands out against the sky, the fastidious composition of the landscape is enlivened with people in the picture's front plane, who underscore the human relevance of the pleasant location and the majestic glory of the historical temple.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulesza, Michal 1799 births 1863 deaths Artists from Vilnius Lithuanian painters 19th-century lithographers from the Russian Empire Painters from the Russian Empire 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists Vilnius University alumni Polish male painters Polish schoolteachers Artists from Białystok 19th-century Polish lithographers