Collection

Portrait of Tadeusz Baracz

Jacek Malczewski

Basic information

ID: Ж-461
Author: Jacek Malczewski
Name: Portrait of Tadeusz Baracz
Date of creation: 1880
Country: Poland
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 23.5 x 18.5

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Provenance: Courtesy of Erasm Baranch to Lviv City Gallery, 1922

Information about author

Author: Jacek Malczewski
Artist's lifetime: 1854–1929
Biography: Jacek Malczewski (July 14, 1854, Radom, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire – October 8, 1929, Krakow, Republic of Poland) was an outstanding artist and one of the most prominent representatives of Polish Symbolism. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, where his teacher was Jan Matejko. The artist participated in an archeological expedition to Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Greece, which was organized by Count Karol Lanckoronski. He also visited Munich and Italy. Jacek Malczewski was one of the founders of the art union "Sztuka" ("Art"). The artist's creative heritage includes landscapes and portraiture, symbolic compositions, interpretations of religious themes, and numerous self-portraits in various images.

Object description

The presented portrait is one of the examples of the early period of Jacek Malczewski's creative work, which is much different from the mature style of the artist. Tadeusz Baracz was a monumental sculptor, portrait artist, who portrayed prominent representatives of Polish and Ukrainian culture, and a master of tomb sculpture. He came from Armenians who moved to Lviv from Bessarabia in the middle of the 19th century. Tadeusz Baracz began his professional education at the Krakow School of Fine Arts under Wladyslaw Luszkiewicz and Henryk Kossowski, and continued his studies at the Munich Academy of Arts in the studio of Max Wiedmen. Between 1872 and 1875, he studied in Italy, mainly in Florence, as well as in Vienna. He began exhibiting in Lviv while studying at the Munich Academy of Arts. From 1870 until his death, his name constantly appeared in the catalogs of art exhibitions in Lviv. The art studio of Tadeusz Baracz in Lviv (located in the hotel "Krakivskyi'' on Bernardynska Square, now Soborna Square) became a meeting place for photography enthusiasts. On March 27, 1891, a gathering of photography enthusiasts took place there; it launched the beginning of one of the first organizations of photographers. In 1891, Tadeusz Baracz was awarded for the work “Head of the Old Man” at the international exhibition in Berlin. He took part in the sculptural decoration of the Grand Theater in Lviv (now the Solomiia Krushelnytska Opera and Ballet Theater) and a number of houses in Lviv, as well as created a lot of monuments and tombstones, mainly in the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv. After the sculptor's death, his brother Roman donated part of his works to the City Gallery (now the Lviv National Art Gallery), and to the Ossolinski Library.

Inscriptions

At the upper left of the painting there is an inscription "J.M".

Portrayed person