Artur Grottger

(b Ottyniowice na Podolu, Eastern Galicia, 11 Nov 1837; d Am?lie-les-Bains, Pyr?n?es-Orientales, 13 Dec 1867). Polish draughtsman and painter. He received his first drawing-lessons from his father Jan J?zef Grottger (1799-1853), a talented amateur artist. From 1848 or 1850 he studied drawing and painting under Jan Kanty Maszkowski (1794-1865) and Juliusz Kossak in Lw?w (now Lviv, Ukraine). His watercolour the Entry of Francis Joseph into Lw?w (1851), brought Grottger an imperial scholarship in 1852, enabling him to continue his studies in the Krak?w School of Fine Arts, under Wladyslaw Luszczkiewicz (1828-1900) and Wojciech Kornel Stattler (1800-75). During this period he met the Bavarian magnate Aleksander Pappenheim, who purchased his painting the Recovery of the Tatars' Booty (1854; Stuttgart, Roland Willer priv. col.) and remained his patron and benefactor until 1863. Early in his career Grottger painted numerous battle-scenes, in oil and watercolour, whose landscape sections are frequently inept, but whose horses, riders and fighting cavalry are depicted with great vitality and sense of movement. In 1854 he travelled to Vienna, where he studied at the Akademie der Bildenden K?nste in 1855-9 under Karl von Blaas, Carl Wurzinger (1817-83) and Peter Geiger (1805-80). He lived in Vienna until 1865, working as an illustrator for various periodicals including Mussestunden, Illustrierte Zeitung and, from 1862, Postep, whose editor he became in 1863. About 300 drawings are attributed to Grottger, and together these constitute a cohesive political, social, literary and satirical commentary on contemporary and historical events. In Vienna Grottger continued to produce watercolours but he also painted numerous oils, including a number of historical compositions (e.g. Sigismund II Augustus and Barbara Radziwill?wna, two versions: 1859/60; ex-J. Radziwill priv. col., Tyczyn; and 1860; ex-Wodzicki priv. col., Krak?w), works on themes from the January Uprising of 1863 (In the Saski Gardens, 1863; Warsaw, N. Mus.), some portraits (Gr?fin Thun with Roses, 1860; Bytom, Mus. Upper Silesia), and a number of self-portraits. In several series of deeply patriotic drawings Grottger depicted events preceding the January Uprising (e.g. Warsaw I, 1861, Wroclaw, N. Mus.; and Warsaw II, 1863, London, V&A). A further series, Lithuania (1864-6; Krak?w, N. Mus.), was devoted to the Lithuanian peasant-partisan movement, while War (1867; Wrocelaw, N. Mus.) was a protest against the mutual destruction of nations. These series were popularized through albums published by the Viennese firm of F. Bodny. In 1865 Grottger returned to Poland, visiting Krak?w and Lw?w, but in 1866 he left for good. He travelled to Paris, and then, seriously ill, to the South of France, where he died. His last Self-portrait (1867; Warsaw, N. Mus.) was executed shortly before his death.

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