Muz., 2017(58): 290-294 Rocznik, eISSN 2391-4815 received – 05.2017 accepted – 05.2017 DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0010.1579 THE COLLECTION OF FELIKS JASIEŃSKI’S DONATION – THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES Tomasz F. de Rosset Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń On 11 March 1920 Feliks ”Manggha” Jasieński signed an we should appreciate the initiative of MNK, which in recent act of a donation upon whose basis the National Museum years published a donation collection to mark its hundredth in Cracow (MNK) obtained an enormous collection totalling anniversary (1920–2020). Plans foresaw ten volumes com- ca.15 000 objects: Polish paintings and sculptures from the posed of a separate presentation and an interpretation of Modernism era, Polish and European graphic works from the collection as a logical work together with a description the turn of the nineteenth century, arts and crafts (assorted of its individual parts (painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic utensils, furniture, ceramics, carpets and kontusz belts), and art, and the crafts – Polish, European, and Oriental). This examples of folk and Far Eastern art, predominantly wood- colossal venture was undertaken so as to highlight and per- cuts and other Japanese artworks. This extraordinary collec- petuate in universal awareness the dimension and variety tion can be, without any exaggeration, described as a mas- of the donated collection– to cite Zofia Gołubiew, the then terpiece comparable with such outstanding undertakings director of the Museum. The published two volumes sym- as Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill, John Soane’s residence bolise the scale of the whole project. in 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London, the Puławy residence of Volume one contains a holistic presentation of the com- Isabella Czartoryska born Fleming, or de Goncourt brothers’ plete collection by Agnieszka Kluczewska-Wójcik, editor Maison de l’artiste in the Parisian district of Auteuil. A pity of the entire corpus, and is the outcome of lengthy stud- that this fact was went unnoticed by the Cracow councilmen ies on Jasieński and his collections, conducted in Poland during the collector’s lifetime and by museum experts in sub- and France (Feliks “Manggha” Jasieński i jego kolekcja sequent years. For all practical purposes, the collection was w Muzeum Narodowym w Krakowie, 2014). This undertak- never permitted to make its voice heard, and from the very ing called for a thorough analysis of preserved sources since onset it was divided between particular sets of museum Jasieński was one of the more vivid and most controver- resources of art and crafts according to a domineering vi- sial figures in fin de siècle Warsaw and Cracow during the sion of a museum and its obligations, and specifically com- Young Poland period as well as an enfant terrible of Polish prehended learned aesthetics. True, during the 1930s the Modernism. collection was displayed in the Szołajski town house as an As a lover of Japanese art, which in his opinion was to en- integral exhibition but only partially, since it had been -de liven our culture, Jasieński was the target of attacks and criti- prived of certain works supposedly fundamental for other cism, often unjust. He also became a protagonist of Young displays, such as Podkowiński’s Frenzy, whose absence in Poland legends still recounted today a gallery of Polish painting would have been unimaginable – on the one hand, a cliché likeness of an arrogant mega- (also today it decorates one of the showrooms at the Cloth lomaniac and a voracious collector, who would stop at noth- Hall, although for some time it was accompanied by a tab- ing for the sake of obtaining a chosen object (the black leg- let explaining its origin). Later, temporary exhibitions were end) and, on the other hand, a portrayal of a patron and also unable to grant Jasieński a suitable place in collective a friend of artists, as well as a promoter of Polish art and memory, thus leaving room for deforming clichés, numerous craft (the white legend). The author declared that she merely misunderstandings, and stereotypes. This is the reason why wished to recall and supplement his intellectual portrait, but 290 MUZEALNICTWO 58 reviews actually she has to a great extent created it because one affair produced by the purchase ofFrenzy , which up to this has to be a highly specialised scout to discover something day remains a sui generis hallmark of Polish art at world in existing historiography. exhibitions. The painting was the cause of two notorious The collector was born in 1861 in Grzegorzewicze scandals – first in 1894, when the canvas, on show at the (Mazovia). The first part of his biography is preceded by ele- Zachęta, was slashed by its author, and upon a second oc- ments of the genealogy of the father’s side of the family but casion in 1901, when Zachęta proposed to purchase the mainly that of the mother, de domo Wołowska, a descen- restored painting. Manggha put an end to the ensuing dis- dant of nobilitated Frankist Jews. This was a family of great putes by buying the controversial painting, and then moved patriots, insurgents, and subsequently émigrés, whose prop- for always to Cracow. erty and relations in the world of culture played an essential Kluczewska-Wójcik dedicated the successive parts of part in Jasieński life. He spent his childhood on his mother’s her book to Jasieński’s long voyage, which from the spring landed estate in Osuchów, amidst palace furniture, souve- of 1897 to the winter of 1900 led from Warsaw to London nirs, and paintings (his later collec- via Jerusalem. The tour was associated tion contained a set of miniature with the chief literary work by Manggha portraits originating from Osuchów). the collector: Les promenades à trav- Later, Jasieński left for Warsaw to ers le monde, l’art et les idées (Paris and continue his home education at the Warszawa 1901), a sui generis account of IV Boys’ Gymnasium, from which the great expedition and a description of he graduated in 1881, but without its successive stages, but also a collection passing the final exams (due to an of interesting reflections on art, music, eye condition). Consequently, he and literature (unfortunately, the whole was unable to embark upon formal book was never translated into Polish). academic courses, and as an un- The voyage started in Constantinople, enrolled student attended lectures and then went on to Jaffa and Jerusalem, first in Dorpat (Tartu) and then, af- followed by Egypt, from which the travel- ter a brief interval, while undergo- ler returned to Europe, where he began ing medical treatment in Berlin and touring Italy, France, and Germany; in Paris. Jasieński studied economy, the meantime he also spent some time law, philosophy, history, the histo- in London. Everywhere, his experiences ry of art, and music. While in Paris, included successive artistic discoveries, he made his first acquaintance with concerts, spectacles, reading, visits paid genuine world art at the Louvre, to artists’ ateliers, and exhibitions (i.a. the local galleries, and the annu- the 1900 Exposition Universelle and the al Salons, and predominantly with much criticised exhibition of Polish art at Japanese art (at the time of his ar- Galerie Georges Petit in Paris). rival Paris was the site of an exhibi- Next, the author presented Jasieński’s tion organised by Louis Gonse at the work for the “Chimera” periodical issued Georges Petit Gallery). Completing in Warsaw. Upon his return to Warsaw his education Jasieński went on Jasieński, a friend of Zenon Przesmycki a trip to Italy and upon his return he (Miriam), published in the periodical in married Teresa Łabędzka (their son, question feuilletons about art and mu- Henryk, was born in 1888, and sev- sic as well as reviews from exhibitions; eral years later, after his parents di- he was also an art advisor dealing with vorced, left with his mother to live the graphic layout and the organisation abroad). Residing together with his of exhibitions held at the editor’s office. family in Warsaw he was collaborat- The latter idea, exceptional in Polish con- ed with several periodicals as an art ditions, was quite frequent in Paris: such critic, considered a musical career, expositions were systematically held in and composed (but according to the later reminiscences the seat of the avant-garde periodical “Revue Blanche”, pub- of his son, Jasieński simply did nothing), maintained con- lished by the Natanson brothers (sons of a Warsaw bank- tacts with the art milieu, i.a. Pankiewicz and Podkowiński, er). The programme of two week long exhibitions prepared whose works he purchased for his future collections, com- by the collector for “Chimera” for the year 1901 was only missioned portraits, and invited artists to stay with his fam- partially realized due to his departure. The event was pre- ily in the countryside. He engaged in the revival movement ceded by a loud scandal produced by Gerson’s obituary in of artistic life in the capital, mainly in the Society for the the press with Manggha undermining the painter’s univer- Encouragement of Fine Arts (Zachęta) by joining sessions on sally acknowledged talent. As a consequence the outraged ”new art” and describing himself as a “worker” in this field. representatives of the Warsaw milieu brutally attacked his After the death of Podkowiński, Jasieński, together with collection of Japanese woodcuts displayed at the Zachęta Leon Wyczółkowski, whom he later befriended, organised (with Jasieński responding just as violently). Presumably, a monographic exhibition of the artist’s works. Finally, the Kluczewska-Wójcik wished to avoid delving any deeper into wide gamut of his activity must be supplemented by the this outright vulgar row. www.muzealnictworocznik.com MUZEALNICTWO 58 291 In the autumn of 1901 Jasieński settled down in Cracow, his graphic art collections (by maintaining contact with such where his home was turned into a museum, an exhibition marchands as Amboise Vollard), as well as knowledge on the showroom, and a lecture hall.