Zygmunt Waliszewski
This guy IS NOT Benedict Cumberbatch.
It's Zygmunt Waliszewski, who was a Polish painter, a member of the Kapist movement. This portrait was a hit on our Facebook fanpage, so we decided to tell a bit more about it :)
The Kapists or KPists (the Polish acronym for the Paris Committee), also known as the Colourists, were a group of Polish painters of the 1930s who dominated the Polish artistic landscape of the epoch. Contrary to Polish romanticist traditions, the Kapists underlined the independence of art from any historical tradition, symbolism or influences of literature. They were under strong influence of the French Post-Impressionists.
At the Louvre Waliszewski painted copies and travesties of the works of old masters like Titian, Veronese, Velasquez, Vermeer, Goya, and Delacroix. He was also fascinated by the art of Cézanne, van Gogh, and Matisse. He used their vibrant colors, but it is difficult to describe Waliszewski's paintings as they change a lot within the years. He composed often fantastic, Comedia dell'arte inspired scenes and numerous variations on the motif of Don Quixote. He filled his paintings with humor, comic situations, derision, and irony, and was quick to paraphrase, travesty, and render theatrical the styles of various periods and iconographic and literary motifs.
Waliszewski died in 1936, at age of 39.
This painting can be seen from June 23rd until January 2018 at National Museum in Krakow at ‘#heritage’ exhibition, that tackles issues related to the current definition of Polish legacy. The exhibition will present approximately 600 objects, including painting collections and works by such prominent artists as Jan Matejko, Stanisław Wyspiański and Jacek Malczewski, as well as Władysław Strzemiński and Andrzej Wróblewski.
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