Feliks Jasieński

Portrait of Feliks Jasieński
by Konrad Krzyżanowski , 1901

Feliks Jasieński (born July 8, 1861 in Grzegorzowice (in what was then Russian Poland), † April 6, 1929 in Krakow ) was a Polish art collector and art critic, donor of a collection of Japanese art in Krakow.

He studied technology in Warsaw , Tartu / Dorpat, Berlin and Paris . Because of an eye disease, he discarded engineering studies and devoted himself to music, literature and art history. He lived in Paris and came under the influence of the Goncourt brothers . He began collecting graphics, mainly Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints and other Japanese works of art. He constantly visited the Paris second-hand bookshops. This created an important collection of Japanese art, which Jasieński brought to Warsaw in 1889.

He became an art, music and literary critic. He lectured and published uncompromising articles on contemporary art. He was often attacked by the conservatives.

He wrote under the code name Manggha , which came from the Hokusai woodblock print collection.

In 1901 he published a collection of essays under the title Manggha. Promenades à travers les mondes, l'art et les idées (Manggha. Wanderings through the worlds, art and ideas).

In 1901 he moved to Cracow . His collections influenced many Art Nouveau artists, such as Julian Fałat , Leon Wyczółkowski , Józef Mehoffer , Ferdynand Ruszczyc , Wojciech Weiss , Józef Pankiewicz and Stanisław Witkiewicz .

Jasieński wanted to bequeath his collections to the National Museum in Warsaw ; after a series of aggressive reviews in the Warsaw press after the exhibition of his Japanese art collection, he decided in 1920 to donate his collections to the Cracow National Museum. There were a total of 15,000 exhibits, including around 6,500 Japanese works of art. He made only one condition: the collection should be accessible to the public and remain as an inseparable whole. Jasieński became honorary director of the collection. Even so, the works of art remained packed in boxes for 75 years. It was not until 1994 that they were exhibited in the “ Manggha ” Center for Japanese Art and Culture set up by Andrzej Wajda .

Web links

• Biography of Feliks Jasieński