Wojciech Weiss’ Podgórze

“Just like there are no recipes for love, there can be none for painting, because the process is far too emotion-laden. The painting should say, ‘look, this is how I love’. The joy of painting is the joy of realising this love,” wrote Wojciech Weiss (1875-1950) – artist, professor and rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow who started his painting career in Podgórze. For the last few years, the Museum of Krakow has been collating a collection of paintings created by the artist in his youth; it goes on show at the exhibition Wojciech Weiss’ Podgórze at the Podgórze Museum (from 8 October). The life of the young artist and his passion for painting, expressed in the streets and courtyards of Podgórze, is superimposed over the vision of the industrial city on the right bank of the Vistula, which later became a district of Kraków. The teenage Weiss sketched and painted landscapes of Podgórze, captivating the atmosphere of the past through images of former brickyards, railway sidings and stations, the old cemetery and the now gone Franz Josef I Bridge. Influenced by Japanese art, popular at the time, he depicted them at different times of day and year and in all kinds of weather. (Dorota Dziunikowska, “Karnet” monthly)