Panorama Racławicka - renovatio

 Salvete Omnes,

[in Polish]

a dzisiaj krotki wpis  - na Blogpressportal, YT, można obejrzeć i posłuchać wykładu dr Romualda Nowaka, od 3 dekad kierownika muzeum Panoramy Raclawickiej, oddziału Muzeum Narodowego nad Odrą we Wrocławiu na Dolnym Śląsku.

Wykład a może raczej ciekawa opowieść o historii Panoramy Racławickiej, wielkich organizatorach lwowskich, mistrzach Wojciechu Kossaku i Janie Styce etc, o architektach, inżynierach i specjalistach od restauracji płócien,  i zwłaszcza historia jej anabasis ze Lwowa do Wrocławia, został nagrany przez Blogpress po wielkim remoncie , jaki miał miejsce w budynkach muzeum Panoramy od lata 2020AD,  i ponownym otwarciu dla publiczności, zwiedzających i uczniów szkół etc.

Według zapewnień dr Nowaka od jesieni 2021 Panorama jest jeszcze wspanialej prezentowana, i jeśli drogi podróżniku oceanu netowego jesteś w Polsce, koniecznie odwiedź wrocławską rotundę niezwyklej Panoramy, jednej z najpiękniejszych panoram na świecie.

Valete

Snow and horses Berezina AD 1812

detail

Salvete Omnes,
my heart is black with sadness today, my beloved German shepherd Inka Negra was euthanized today.
She will sleep forever in the oak forest. C'est la vie.
                                            ***
End of November brings another anniversary in Polish , French, Russian and German military history.

Falat's landscape

On 26th of November  the remains of the Napoleonic Grande Armee (Great or Grand Army), that had entered Russian Empire in the summer 1812, fought their last large ( the entire fight lasted from 26 to 29th of November ) battle of this terribly mismanaged and badly executed campaign.
Encircled by three Russian armies, pursued relentlessly by Russians and inclement weather, starving and frostbitten, with military horses reduced to skeletal steeds collapsing at any given moment and using peasant koniks - now consisting in large part of Polish soldiers, and then the German, Croat, Dutch and French soldiers, plus vast number of camp followers and stragglers - so this struggling army came to the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Berezyna (Berezina) River crossings on the way to Wilno (Vilnius, Lithuania), had to built bridges, fight their enemies in snow, ice, forests and freezing waters, and just to keep on walking towards Duchy of Warsaw and Empire.
For the Napoleon it was do or die type of an engagement, the emperor being effectively encircled with his fighting-men spread out on the right and left banks and twice the number of civilians and stragglers on the left bank.   For a moment if all came to halt around  the fords on the Berezyna (Berezina) River between Studzianka(Studienka) and Borysow (Borisov), present day Belarus. Actual battle was very bloody and very costly in terms of losses in men, families and materiel, but  soldiers' valiant sacrifice did win Napoleon another chance to fight on in the spring 1813 etc, thus the French Empire was saved and survived the Russia 1812 debacle to fight on until Waterloo stopped all.
On November 29, 1812 Grand Army survivors started marching towards Wilno, but less than 10,000 of them capable to bear arms and fight (and they did fight smaller battles and skirmishes). Several days after Berezyna Napoleon left his army and went straight to Paris, to organize new armies to fight in the Germanies the following spring.
Military details of this battle will become subject of many posts in the future (so  many surviving diaries and memoirs provide so much interesting equestrian information that it would be shameful not to bring them back).

Falat's work

But today I want to post something about the painting, not jsut any painting abut a huge panorama work planned and executed by two Polish masters of brush and paint : Wojciech Kossak and Julian Fałat, with help from several Polish artists - Michał Wywiórski, Antoni Piotrkowski, Kazimierz Pułaski (cousin of Kossak), et Jan Stanisławski.

Falat's winter scene

So these two great brushmasters set on to paint  the grand last act of the Napoleonic retreat from Moscow AD 1812, the battle of Berezina River.
In November 1894 Falat proposed to undertake this project, to be painted in Berlin, where he was residing. The financial backers of this project were Roman Potocki, Antoni Wodzicki and Stanislaw  Homolacs.
Kossak was to paint the figures and Falat the nature(being the foremost painter of landscape, especially the snowed scenery etc, but he painted one bridge with figures too, as seen above). Kossak went to the site in Russian Empire and studied the uniforms and armaments.

The work started on December 1, 1894 and in April 1896 the finished Berezina panorama went on display in Berlin. In September 1898 it went to be displayed in Warsaw, in April 1900 went to Kiev, and in June 1901 to Moscow. After that show it was kept at Kossak's home at Krakow, The panoramic painting was 15 meters high and 120  meters long and without a proper gallery to display it (unlike Raclawice Panorama),  it having been rolled and slowly decaying at Kossak's atelier it was destined to survive in its entirety for long. Addtionally there was the conflict between the two leading painters, and so this great work of art was completely cut into multiple panels and then these smaller paintings were sold off to interested buyers. It had begun already in 1907 when Kossak started to cut it into smaller parts, selling those pieces he painted himself.
There are but photos of some of the larger scenes surviving

Valete!

best books on this engagement
in Polish:
Marian Kukiel, Wojna 1812 Roku, vol. II.
Robert Bielecki, Berezyna 1812.
English:
Alexander Mikaberidze, Battle of the Berezina.

Wojciech Kossak - a birthday note

salvete Omnes,
last post in the calendar year of 2017 - happy New Year!

Wojciech Horacy Kossak has been one of the pillars of the Polish art and his brush works on canvas are firmly entrenched in the pantheon of Polish art, in spite of many years of prejudice or even ridicule.
 He was born 15 minutes before midnight on December 31 1856, while his twin brother Tadeusz was born right after midnight on January 1, 1857.
Happy birthday Wojciech Kossak

Enjoy
 Kolejna rocznica urodzin Wojciecha Kossaka, urodzonego kwadrans przed północą AD 1856, a jego brat-bliźniak urodził się już po północy, AD 1857(o Tadeuszu i jego wspomnieniach o wojnach 1914-20 mam nadzieje napisać w przyszłości)
 Załączam link do podcastu Muzeum Miasta Lodzi o Wojciechu Kossaku, linki do listy audycji w Polskim Radio o Kossaku i jego rodzie, oraz przede wszystkim fragment ze Wspomnien (wyd. 1912) opisujący polowanie w Godollo (na Węgrzech), gdzie pan Wojciech  pędził na cesarskiej siwej irlandzkiego chowu klaczy galopem przez 1 godzinę i 40 minut tuz za cesarzem Franciszkiem Józefem:

 Imć Pan Kazimierz Olszański przywrócił swoimi publikacjami pozycje Wojciecha Kossaka w historii sztuki polskiej, a dzisiaj przydalby sie powazny, calosciowy album pokazujący  twórczość, ponad 2000 obrazów, mości Wojciecha.
Dosiego Roku!
Valete!
 ps
 Year of Kościuszko - 2017

in Poland this passing and very old year has been named and celebrated as the year of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, hero of Poland and USA - in 1894 Wojciech Kossak , Jan Styka and a number of artists painted the famous Racławice panorama, that had used to be housed in the city of Lwów, but since in 1945 the Soviets robbed (with the American and British approval - bloody & idiotic Curzon Line pretense)  Poland of city of Lwów, then today displayed in tis specially built museum in Wrocław, Poland

.

Racławice Panorama

Salve,
last month I talked about visiting Wrocław in October and among monuments and museums seeing the Museum of Racławice Panorama (here the entire painting). Bellow, a real peasant wagon  placed along with the ground and vegetation all along near the foot of the painting, to create the illusion of three-dimensionally. The illusion works pretty well -:)

Well, I would like to start showing my photos of this masterpiece, its painters and the events taking place on canvas, as this is a historical piece describing some of the vents that took place during the battle of Racławice, AD1794..
 First, the battle in period art
by Aleksander Orłowski, participant of the Kosciuszko Uprising
.

 Michal Sachowicz, contemporary artist and witness to the Uprising
.

.
 perhaps it would be nice to start this topic with a little history on how it all came about:
 our Polish painters Jan Styka  (who came out with the idea in 1892, 2 years before the centennial of the Kosciuszko Insurrection))

and

Wojciech Kossak  got together to paint this cycloramic painting, being influenced by similar works painted by the Germans ( Anton von Werner  in Berlin,) and the French (Alphonse de Neuville & Eduard Detaille in Paris - example of battle of Champigny from gallica )  during 1880s. Also it is very commendable and perhaps astonishing that  the Committee, for the Austro-Hungarian State Fair  to be held in Lwow (Lviv)  in 1894, quickly came about having a design made  and construing the necessary building in Lwów.
Munich in Bavaria was another center for fine art at that time, and both our painters went there to study the art of painting the panorma. Also they had to order necessary and specially woven canvass (as always from Belgium), study or ask around the circle of miltiray hsitorians about the period uniforms and wepaons, study period art, and visit the locality, i.e., Raclawice village.  Kossak painted 4 large oils (1: 10 scale of the original size, they became known as Mała Panorama Racławicka bought by prince Adam Sapieha for his Krasiczyn castle ) in April 1893, and Styka took two of them to Lwow to finish them while Kossak took the remainder to his atellier in Krakow. In July 1893 the building was finised and canvas was streched, all 120 meeters long and 15 meters high.
The research for the historical accuracy led them to the Vienna war Office archives where they found a plan of the battle, drawn shortly after the engagement in 1790s.Then Styka, Kosska and Ludwig Boller(from Munich) went to scout the landscape near Racławice, and made landscape sketches.  Two historians, Tadeusz Korzon , who finished then a new and monumental biogaphy of Kosciuszko, and Konstanty Górski , military historian, aided them with historic information. also museums in Krakow, Lwów and other private collections around the Austrian Poland (partitions of Poland  ) were opened to them to allow for study of the art and material history of the Kosciuszko Uprising.

Our two principal painters chose painters to assist them in painting this behemoth: Teodor Axentowicz, already mentioned Ludwig Boller, Tadeusz Popiel, Zygmunt Rozwadowski (great painter of horses), Michał Sozański, Wlodziemierz Tetmajer and Wincenty  Wodzinowski. They got to work and worked hard , with many conflicts between the principal artists.

As art historian Kazimierz Olszanski, great biographer of Kossak family, writes the work assignment etc was as follows:
Jan Styka was the mastermind of the project and one who organised it. He painted the praying group, woman with the killed husband before the hut, the mounted figure of Kosciuszko; and with Wlodzimierz Tetmajer he painted 'kosynierzy '(scythe-armed peasant levies) attacking the cannons and troops of regular Polish infantry and peasant levies marching to fight. Wojciech Kossak painted 70 % of all figure composition of the entire panorama (he also painted the horse for mounted Kosciuszko painted by Styka) The landscape was painted by  Ludwig Boller  and Tadeusz Popiel. Following Kossak's sketches Teodor Axentowicz painted the infantry of Wodzicki regiment of foot while Zygmunt Rozwadowski National Cavalry regiments. Periodically Wincenty Wodzinowski and Michal Sozanski helped to paint various scenes.

After 9 months they finished  on May 28 1894, all the rest was added and synchronised with the painting  within a week, and on June5, 1894 the panorama opened its doors for the visitors.

Interestingly enough the painting was to have a short life for it would have been cut into sections and sold off, as  most of these pre-cinematic works had been, but another painter Stanisław Batowski came its defence, and in 1912 city of Lwow took possession of the artwork, thus it became the main tourist traction for the city of Lwow and National Treasure of Poland
It survived the World War II, although the Germans tried hard to find it (it was hidden by patriots) and the Soviets agreed that the Polish authorities of Soviet Poland would take possession of this artwork (although countless other works taken from Polish museums and private collections stayed in Ukraine and her museums) was brought to Wrocław (Stalin took Lwow and gave us Wrocław I guess) in 1946, where finally the Communists allowed for the new rotunda built and painting restored.
The newly restored Panorama was opened for visitors in 1985 and continues to draw crowds from all over Poland and abroad.

Anecdotes are always interesting - so there is one
     After the work was complicated and prises sung, the conflicts between Styka and Kossak grew as to the authorship of the project, and continued for many years.
Writer Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński wrote that Jan Styka was not really the one who 'pinxit' but the one who 'combinavit,' and so many words it was Kossak who who 'pinxit' most of it.  Tetmajer  used to say, Boy-Żeleński added, that when he just finished a section of panorama and paint was still wet, Styka would come in with the visiting officials or sponsors and show them the very piece as his own. But to Tetmajer  it was just funny or annoying,  but when Styka tried to do the same to Kossak ,  show his still wet work as his own,   he even chased him across the scaffolding with intent to cause bodily harm, being himself rather temperamental. Several times the said  Committee had to devote a session to these quarrels and one of the official notes stated (October 11, 1893) the names of the creators would be listed in an alphabetical order. It did not help much
The quarrel never really ceased between the artists,  and lived on after 1894, and actually Jan Styka's sons continued with it.
Both artists went to paint more panorama paintings, Styka 2 more while Kossak 2 more as well.  Theses hudge paintings were cut and sold off as smaller pieces.
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 Kossak painted this picture later on, after the Panorama, circa 1924
.
to be continued
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