Born: December 31, 1856, Paris, France
Died: July 29, 1942, Krakow, German occupied Poland
General comment. He is the fourth member of the celebrated family of painters and writers represented at the Prominent Poles website. Other include: Juliusz Kossak, a painter; Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, a novelist, WWII hero; Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, a poet. There is at least one more coming: Magdalena Samozwaniec, a novelist (and a very witty one).
Early days. His parents left France shortly after their wedding. Kossak began his education upon his family's return to Poland. He went to middle school at Three Crosses Square (Plac Trzech Krzyzy) in Warsaw and later attended high school, Gimnazjum św. Anny, in Kraków. He simultaneously studied painting with his father Juliusz. In the years 1871-1873 Wojciech studied at the School of Drawing and Painting (later called the School of Fine Arts) and later, until 1875, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.
Career. Wojciech Kossak's historical painting was very different in style and subject matter from that of his predecessor Jan Matejko's. Kossak belonged to a new generation of Polish battle-scene artists influenced by the work of his father Juliusz. However, similar to Matejko, he is known for depicting the history of Polish armed struggle and notable Polish battles of Central and Eastern Europe against the foreign oppressors. Among his most famous paintings is The Racławice Panorama (painted together with the painter Jan Styka) displayed before WWII in Lwow, Poland (presently Lviv, Ukraine). Now the Panorama has a home in Wroclaw, Poland.
This article uses, modified material from the Wikipedia article "Wojciech Kossak".
Wikipedia Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply:
Other sources:
Wojciech Kossak's gallery
Published on 10/12/15
Return to home page:
Prominent Poles
