Chmielowski, Adam

Chmielowski, Adam (Saint Brother Albert Chmielowski), 1870-74: student at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. *20.8.1845 Igołomia, †25.12.1916 Cracow. From 1855: trains at the Cadet School in St. Petersburg. From 1858: secondary education in Warsaw. From 1861: studies at the Polytechnic Institute for Agriculture and Forestry/Instytut Politechniczny i Rolniczo-Leśny in Nowa Aleksandria (today Puławy); befriends the painter Maksymilian Gierymski (1846-1874). 1863: takes part in the January Uprising (Portrait by Cyprian Dylczyński, see there). In the Battle of Grochów he is taken prisoner by the Austrians and interned in Olmütz, from where he escapes to join the rebel troops under Zygmunt Chmieleński. In the Battle of Melchow he loses a leg. On the intervention of his family he is spared deportation to Russia, but has to emigrate and moves to Paris. 1865: returns to Warsaw and studies in the Warsaw drawing class/Klasa Rysunkowa until 1866, presumably under Rafał Hadziewicz (1803-1883) and Ksawery (Xaver) Jan Kaniewski (1809-1870). 1866: he begins a course of engineering at the University of Ghent, but in the following year moves to Paris, where he shares a workshop in the Latin quarter with a German painter. 1869: in Cracow. 1870: he receives a grant to study in Munich. On the 4.5.1870 he enrols in the nature class at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, studies under Hermann Anschütz (1802-1880) and Alexander Strähuber (1814-1882). A member of the Munich Art Club, he becomes one of the outstanding artists in the so-called “Poland colony” around Józef Brandt (1841-1915) and shares a workshop with Maksymilian Gierymski (1846-1874) and his brother, Aleksander (1850-1901). 1874: returns to Poland and, between 1875 and 1877, has a joint workshop in Warsaw with Stanisław Witkiewicz, Józef Chełmoński and Antoni Piotrowski, the first Polish Naturalism group. 1878: in Venice. From 1879: resident in Lemberg/Lwów (today Lviv). 1880: accepted into the Jesuit order in Stara Wieś, missionary work in Volhynia, Podolia and Podlachia. 1884: expelled by the Russian government, goes to Cracow. 1887: admitted into the Franciscan order and takes the name of Brother Albert. 1888: founds the Albertines (1891 the Union of Albertine Women) and devotes himself to charity work. 1989: pronounced a Saint by Pope John Paul II in Rome. During his time in Munich Chmielowski is influenced by late Romantic painting and Symbolism, especially by the works of Anselm Feuerbach and Arnold Böcklin. In the Alte Pinakothek in Munich he studies old masters, above all Velazquez. Back in Poland he paints scenes from the January Uprising in the style of Maksymilian Gierymski. After Gierymski’s death in 1874, (he is present at the time in Bad Reichenhall), in Warsaw he paints portraits in the style of Velazquez. Subsequently he paints Symbolist compositions on death, loneliness and tragic love (see the picture). From 1880 onwards: Symbolist cemetery pictures. In his later year he paints landscapes in the style of open-air painting, pictures of saints and religious scenes. His works can be found in the National Museums in Cracow and Warsaw and in private collections and buildings in Cracow belonging to religious orders. 

Solo exhibitions: 1938 Cracow, Society of the Friends of the Fine Arts/Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie / Warsaw: 1939 National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie; 1984/85 Warsaw Diocesan Museum/Muzeum Archidiecezji Warszawskiej / 1995/96 Cracow Diocesan Museum/Muzeum Archidiecezjalnego

Group exhibitions: From 1870 Cracow, Warsaw: Society of the Friends of the Fine Arts/Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych / 1880 Warsaw, Salon Krywult

Further Reading: Władysław Kluz: Adam Chmielowski. Brat Albert, Cracow 1981; Münchner Maler im 19. Jahrhundert, vol. 1, Munich 1982, p. 176 f.; Władysław Kluz: Dobry jak chleb. Brat Albert – Adam Chmielowski, Cracow 1983; Elżbieta Charazińska: Adam Chmielowski – błogosławiony brat Albert (1845-1916). Wystawa malarstwa i rysunku, Muzeum Archidiecezji Warszawskiej, Warsaw 1984; Halina Stępień/Maria Liczbińska: Artyści polscy w środowisku monachijskim w latach 1828-1914. Materiały źródłowe, Warsaw 1994, p. 10, 32 f.; Elżbieta Charazińska: Adam Chmielowski - św. Brat Albert (1845-1916). Katalog wystawy, Muzeum Archidiecezjalnego, Cracow 1995; Saur Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, vol. 18, Munich/Leipzig 1998, p. 596; Halina Ste̜pień: Artyści polscy w środowisku monachijskim. W latach 1856-1914 (Studia z historii sztuki / Instytut Sztuki, Polska Akademia Nauk, 50), Warsaw 2003; 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, 02567 Adam Chmielowski, http://matrikel.adbk.de/matrikel/mb_1841-1884/jahr_1870/matrikel-02567

Axel Feuß: Polnische Künstler in München 1828-1914, p. 3, Ill. 9, at Porta Polonica, http://porta-polonica.de/de/Atlas-der-Erinnerungsorte/polnische-kuenstler-muenchen-1828-1914

Irena Kossowska: Adam (Brat Albert) Chmielowski (2006), at culture.pl, http://culture.pl/pl/tworca/adam-brat-albert-chmielowski

Marek Wójtowicz SJ: Św. Brat Albert Chmielowski - Dobry jak chleb, on Religia deon.pl, http://www.deon.pl/215/art,119,sw-brat-albert-chmielowski-dobry-jak-chleb.html

Many works at artyzm.com, http://artyzm.com/e_artysta.php?id=179&page=1

Many works at Pinakoteka Zascianek, https://www.pinakoteka.zascianek.pl/Chmielowski/Index.htm

 

Axel Feuß, March 2017