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Architectural Study

Stanislaw Noakowski

Basic information

ID: Г-I-674
Author: Stanislaw Noakowski
Name: Architectural Study
Country: Poland
Technique: drawing
Material: paper pen watercolour
Dimensions: 27 x 36 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: landscape
Provenance: Transferred from the collections of the Vilnius State Art Museum, 1959

Information about author

Author: Stanislaw Noakowski
Author in the original: Stanisław Noakowski
Artist's lifetime: 1867–1928
Country: Poland
Biography: Stanisław Noakowski (1867, Nieszawa – 1928, Warsaw) – a Polish architect, painter, graphic artist and art historian. The son of a district notary. In his youth, he took drawing lessons at the real school in Włocławek, and later at the grammar school in Łowicz. Between 1886 and 1898, he studied architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. In 1895, as a scholar of the Academy, he travelled across Europe. After obtaining his degree in architecture, Noakowski began teaching.
In 1906, he was appointed professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1908, he joined the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" (Towarzystwo Artystów Polskich "Sztuka"). He later became an honorary member of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts. In the autumn of 1918, he returned to Poland. He was appointed professor of the history of modern architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, and from 1923 onwards served as a professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (Szkoła Sztuk Pięknych). In the 1920s, he exhibited his graphic works and paintings at exhibitions in London, Paris, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Amsterdam.
Noakowski created colour drawings on the theme of European architecture from various eras and styles. He drew in ink, sepia or watercolour. The artist loved to create architectural fantasies, in which he depicted various real-life objects within an imaginary historical context. He believed that architecture was the most expressive of all art forms, as it best conveys the history and essence of a particular civilisation. The influence of Art Nouveau is evident in his work, particularly in his designs for country estates and park mausoleums, as well as in the ornamentation of his bookplates.
Noakowski died suddenly in 1928, leaving behind thousands of sketches. A large collection of his works is held by the National Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie). A rich collection of drawings and memorabilia relating to the artist is also housed in the Stanislaw Noakowski Museum in Nieszawa. It is situated in a small 19th-century manor house, where the artist's family settled shortly after his birth.

Object description

The work was completed after the artist's return to Poland in 1918. It depicts a section of the courtyard of an architectural complex. The background is dominated by a tower, square in plan, standing by the wall. There are three windows on the second floor of the building, with the entrance door at the bottom left. The tower is topped by a hipped roof, highlighted in dark brown. To the left of it stands a massive wall with a gate in an arched opening. To the right of the tower is a low horizontally elongated building with two arched openings and a sloping roof. This is likely a stable, on either side of which trees covered in green foliage grow. The courtyard area in the foreground is depicted schematically, with the terrain sloping to the right. The colour scheme is dominated by warm, light ochre tones.

Inscriptions

Artist's monogram and date bottom right: "SN" (letters superimposed) "2 25/VIII 2".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Architectural Study

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