Jan Styka

The House of
Jan Styka in Lviv

Jan Styka (born April 8, 1858 in Lemberg , † April 11, 1925 in Rome ) was a Polish painter .

Life

His father was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces . Styka studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna , then in Rome , Paris and Krakow . One of his best-known works is Panorama Racławicka, created between 1893 and 1894 with Wojciech Kossak and other painters . To 1900 Styka created at the suggestion of the pianist and later Polish prime minister Ignacy Jan Paderewski the panoramic image The crucifixion ( The Crucifixion ) "as a symbol of the desire for freedom of the Polish people." After the picture was shown at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis , USA, Styka had to leave it in America “because of unfortunate circumstances and high costs. For decades it disappeared in a storage room. Dr. Hubert Eaton discovered it in 1944. “It is on display today in Glendale , California .

Styka moved to Paris in 1900 and to Italy in 1910 . In 1910 he created a picture of Paderewski, which is now exhibited in the Poznan National Museum.

His sons Tadeusz Styka (1889–1954) and Adam Styka (1890–1959) were also painters.

literature

T. Szybisty: Styka Jan. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 14, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2012–, ISBN 978-3-7001-7312-0 , p. 20.