Wojciech Weiss
Encyclopedia
Wojciech Weiss was a prominent Polish
painter and draughtsman
of the Young Poland
movement.
Weiss was born in Bukovina
to a Polish family in exile of Stanisław Weiss and Maria Kopaczyńska. He gave up music training to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Leon Wyczółkowski. Weiss originally painted historical or mythological paintings, but later switched to Expressionism
after being profoundly influenced by Stanisław Przybyszewski. Weiss later became a member of the Vienna Secession
. He was one of the first Polish Art Nouveau
poster designers. Near the end of his life, he made several significant contributions to paintings of the Socialist realism in Poland
.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
painter and draughtsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
of the Young Poland
Young Poland
Young Poland is 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 ideas of Positivism...
movement.
Weiss was born in Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
to a Polish family in exile of Stanisław Weiss and Maria Kopaczyńska. He gave up music training to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Leon Wyczółkowski. Weiss originally painted historical or mythological paintings, but later switched to Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
after being profoundly influenced by Stanisław Przybyszewski. Weiss later became a member of the Vienna Secession
Vienna Secession
The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. This movement included painters, sculptors, and architects...
. He was one of the first Polish Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
poster designers. Near the end of his life, he made several significant contributions to paintings of the Socialist realism in Poland
Socialist realism in Poland
Socialist realism in Poland was an official Communist doctrine used by the pro-Soviet government in the process of forcible Stalinization of the postwar People's Republic of Poland. The policy was introduced in 1949 by a decree of the Polish United Workers' Party Minister Włodzimierz Sokorski...
.