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Angel

Tadeusz Baracz

Basic information

ID: С-I-175
Author: Tadeusz Baracz
Name: Angel
Date of creation: after 1880
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Culture: Modern times
Technique: casting
Material: bronze
Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm): 31.5 x 11 x 16.5

Additionally

Type: sculpture
Genre: memorial
Plot: Allegory
Provenance: Acquired from Mieczyslaw Lopuszanski National Gallery of Lviv (until 1940)

Information about author

Author: Tadeusz Baracz
Artist's lifetime: 1849–1905
Country: Austrian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Biography: Tadeusz Baracz (24 March 1849, Lviv – 12 March 1905, Lviv) was a Polish sculptor of Armenian origin, one of the most famous sculptors in Lviv in the second half of the 19th century. He was the son of Jakub Baracz, the owner of the Krakow Hotel, and Teresa of the Truchlinski family. He studied at a cadet school in the Austrian town of Hainburg as his father planned a career in the army for his son. He later graduated from a real school in Lviv. He began his artistic training in 1868–1869 at the Krakow School of Fine Arts under Wladyslaw Luszkiewicz and Henryk Kosowski. He studied at the Munich Academy of Arts in the studio of Max Windmann (1869–1871). He continued his training in Florence in the studio of Augusto Rivalto (1872–1875). At the beginning of 1876, he returned to Lviv. The sculptor's studio in the "Krakow" Hotel on Bernardynska Square (now Soborna Square) became a meeting place for photography enthusiasts. On 27 March 1891, a meeting of photography enthusiasts was held, which marked the beginning of the institutionalisation of their activities. Baracz's early works (until 1875) were in the late Romantic style, while his later works were realistic, neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque. The artist's works show a synthesis of the traditions of the Munich and Viennese schools of sculpture, the latter having been integrated into Lviv thanks to a trip to Vienna in the second half of the 1870s and collaboration with the sculpture company of Julian Markowski, one of the brightest representatives of the Viennese school of sculpture. He began to exhibit his works in Lviv while studying at the Munich Academy of Art. He participated in the annual exhibitions of the Society of Fine Arts (Towarzystwo przyjaciół sztuk pięknych we Lwowie – TPSP) (1874–1904). In 1891, he was awarded a prize at the International Exhibition in Berlin for his work "The Head of an Old Man". In 1893, he exhibited his works in Chicago (USA). In January 1895, he joined the "Committee of Experts" of the TPSP with S. Batowski, S. Dembicki, T. Popiel and J. Styka. In 1897–1900, he participated in the sculptural decoration of the Great City Theatre in Lviv (now Solomiia Krushelnytska Lviv State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet), several Lviv buildings, created many monumental monuments, portraits and tombstones, mostly in the Lychakiv cemetery. He also tried his hand at animal painting: in 1929, he exhibited his "Dog's Head" at one of the Lviv exhibitions. Famous are the heraldic lions created by T. Baracz: at the entrance to the Town Hall and on the grave of Konstanty Ordon in the Lychakiv cemetery. The sculptor died in Lviv at the age of 56 after a long illness and was buried in the Lychakiv cemetery (Field 59). In 1905, a posthumous exhibition of Baracz's works was held, presenting 120 reliefs, sculptural groups, and busts. After Baracz's death, his brother Roman donated the sculptor's works to the City Gallery and Ossolineum Library. In 1940, during the nationalisation of private art collections, the Ossolinski collection was transferred to the Lviv Art Gallery (now Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery). The works by Tadeusz Baracz are kept in the National Museum in Krakow and the Tarnow Museum in Poland.

Object description

An essential part of Tadeusz Baracz's oeuvre is memorial sculptures, which, together with portraits, brought the artist recognition. The sculptor is best known as the author of tombstones for the Lychakiv cemetery, including the Krowczynski tombstone with an angel from the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery collection. The crypt of the famous Lviv family contains the graves of Zegota Krowczynska (1848–1893), a doctor, Galician public figure, president of the Sokil Gymnastics Society, Julia Krowczynska (died in 1872), Wojciech Krowczynski (died in 1877), Zdzislawa Krowczynska (1867–1890) and Wlodzimierz Krowczynski (died in 1889). The bronze figure of an angel from the Gallery's collection is a model of the gravestone of Ludwika Krowczynska, the wife of the doctor Ignacy Krowczynski, who died in 1880 at the age of 28 (Biriuliov Y. Lviv Sculpture from Early Classicism to Avant-Garde. Mid-Eighteenth – Mid-Twentieth Century. Lviv : Apriori, 2015. P. 170). The figurative and plastic solution of the work is rooted in the traditional memorial iconography of angels, symbolising purity and heavenly protection, mourning for loved ones, protection of the soul in the afterlife, emphasising the connection with the Almighty, reminding of the immortality of the soul and eternal life. What makes this model special is its inspiration from neo-Baroque forms, reflected in the expressive silhouette and the openness of the sculptural form through the prayerful gaze of the beautiful eyes looking up to the sky. The modelling of the volumes is energetic, creating shimmering effects of light and shadow and reflecting a turbulent state of mind. At the same time, the flowing curved line of the profile silhouette, contrasted with the diagonally upturned head, lends elegance and plastic integrity to the image. The difference between the gallery sketch and the final version of the tombstone (sandstone, 1881) is remarkable: the rhythm of the lines, the balance and the skilful modelling of the naked breast give it a Renaissance 'neo-Florentine' refinement, romantic idealisation and eroticism. The frequency of references to the image of the angel in memorial sculpture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is significant, particularly in the tombstones of F.-H. Richter (1884), L. Chorzewska (1899–1901), A. Kurylowicz (1899–1901) and M. Czemirski (1886) by T. Baracz's contemporary J. Markowski.

Inscriptions

On the right side of the plinth is the signature: "Tadeusz Barącz". Inside the plinth twice: "Hp / 62".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Angel

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