Alchimowicz, Kazimierz
Alchimowicz, Kazimierz (Kazimieras Alchimavičius), Polish-Lithuanian painter and sculptor, member of the “Munich School”. 1873-75: student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich/Akademie der Bildenden Künste München. *20.12.1840 Dziembrów (today Dembrava, White Russia), †31.12.1916 Warsaw. Grows up in Vilnius. He works as an estate manager near Kiev. During the January Uprising 1863, he fights for Lithuania, for which he is banned to Verchoturye, east of the Urals. Here he begins to draw. After returning to Warsaw in 1869 he studies in the drawing class/Klasa Rysunkowa under Wojciech Gerson (1831-1901). On the 17.10.1873 he enrols in the painting class at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts/Königlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich; studies under Sandór (Alexander von) Wagner (1838-1919). From 1876 onwards he lives in France, exhibits in the Paris Salon, and then lives with his brother, the painter Hiacynt Alchimowicz in Perpignan from 1841 to after 1897. In 1877 in Avon (Seine-et-Marne), he works on painting porcelain and faience: subsequently the head of the workshop for artistic decorations in Fontainebleau for ten months. In 1778 he returns to Warsaw. In 1880 he opens his own workshop and from 1890 onwards he works at the private school for painting and sculpture of Bronisława Poświkowa (1855-1902). He is awarded many prizes: 1891 Berlin, Minor Gold Medal; 1893, 1898, the prize of the periodical Tydodnik Ilustrowany, Warsaw; 1894 Lemberg/Lwów, silver medal; 1888 St. Petersburg, 1st prize from the Society of Fine Arts; 1889 Paris, gold medal. Alchimowicz is a history and genre painter, mainly influenced by Gerson and Aleksander Lesser (1814-1884). He paints late-Romantic landscapes from the region around Vilnius, the Tatra region and France, as well as legends and pictures from Lithuanian history. He makes a name for himself with paintings and drawings on the epic poem; “Pan Tadeusz” by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855). He also paints portraits, paintings and murals with religious themes and creates figures from clay and wood. His works can be found in the national museums of Cracow, Poznań and Warsaw, in the Art Museum in Łódź/Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, in the Wyczółkowski Museum in Bydgoszcz/Muzeum Okręgoweim Leona Wyczółkowskiego w Bydgoszczy, in the parish churches in Żytno, Zakopane, Brzeziny, in Lublin Cathedral, in St. Katherine’s church in St. Petersburg and in the Lithuanian Art Museum in Vilnius.
Solo exhibition: 1918 Memorial Exhibition in Warsaw, Zachęta
Group exhibitions: 1873-1902 Cracow, Society of the Friends of the Fine Arts/ Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie / 1874-1912 Warsaw, Zachęta / 1881-1905 Warsaw, Salon Krywult / 1881-1900 Paris / 1882 Vienna, International Art Exhibition / 1888-1915 Wilna, Odessa, Munich, Warsaw
Further Reading: T.Dobrowolski/W.Tatarkiewicz: Historia sztuki polskiej w zarysie, III, Cracow 1962, 268; L.Grajewski: Bibliografia ilustracji w czasopismach polskich, Warsaw 1972, 14 f.; Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, vol. 2, Munich/Leipzig 1992, p. 173 f.; Halina Stępień/Maria Liczbińska: Artyści polscy w środowisku monachijskim w latach 1828-1914. Materiały źródłowe, Warsaw 1994, p. 11, 27; Egzotyczna Europa. Kraj urodzenia na płótnach polskich monachijczyków/Das exotische Europa. Heimatvisionen auf den Gemälden der polnischen Künstler in München, exhibition catalogue. Suwałki 2015
Online: Matriculation data base, Matriculation book 2, Academy of Fine Arts Munich, 02905 Kasimir Alchimowiez (sic!), http://matrikel.adbk.de/matrikel/mb_1841-1884/jahr_1873/matrikel-02905
Many works at the Pinakoteka Zascianek, https://www.pinakoteka.zascianek.pl/Alchimowicz/Index.htm
Axel Feuß, March 2017
