Mieczysław Wallis

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Cover of the book “Arts and Signs” by Mieczysław Wallis (1975). It contains six articles that were written in the 1960s.

Mieczysław Wallis (often also Mieczysław Wallis-Walfisz , born June 16, 1895 in Warsaw , † October 25, 1975 in Warsaw) was a Polish philosopher and art historian. He is assigned to the Lviv-Warsaw School .

life and work

Mieczysław's parents were the chemist Bronisław Walfisz (1869–1942) and Helene Lipszyc. The Jewish-Polish family moved to Germany in 1905, but returned to Warsaw in 1908.

In 1913 Mieczysław Walfisz graduated from the “Boys Prague Lyceum” there. His interests at that time were biology, psychology and philosophy. Therefore, in the academic year 1913/14 he studied natural sciences, philosophy and drawing at the University of Heidelberg , where he attended lectures by the philosopher Wilhelm Windelband . After the start of the war in 1914 he was interned for a short time in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , but was able to continue his studies in Warsaw from 1915.

There he studied philosophy with Jan Łukasiewicz , Stanisław Leśniewski and Tadeusz Kotarbiński , as well as art history and Polish literature.

In 1916 he joined Józef Piłsudskis Polish Military Organization , from November 1918 he was employed in the "Academic Legion" (later 36th Infantry Regiment, 36 Pułk Piechoty Legii Akademickiej ). After a year as a soldier, Mieczysław went back to university to graduate. As early as July 1920, however, he reported again and fought with the 192nd Infantry Regiment.

He received his doctorate in 1921, his doctoral supervisor was Tadeusz Kotarbiński . From 1922 Mieczysław (now increasingly Wallis instead of Walfisz) worked as an art critic. He wrote articles for the newspapers Robotnik and Wiadomości Literackie , but also scientific papers and articles on aesthetics in Wiedza i Życie . Two short monographs on Stanisław Noakowski and Ludomir Sleńdziński were also made between the wars. In 1930 his son Aleksander Wallis was born, who became a sociologist (died 1984) and was married to the art historian Elżbieta Grabska-Wallis (1931-2004).

An article by Mieczysław Wallis in the weekly Wiadomości Literackie (1935)

After defending Warsaw in the air defense in September 1939, he was interned for five and a half years in Osterode ( Oflag XI A) and Woldenberg ( Oflag II C ).

In 1945 he was able to complete his habilitation in Warsaw and then became a professor at the University of Łódź . He also taught at the Warsaw Theater Academy and continued to be productive in the fields of philosophy, aesthetics, art history and art criticism (e.g. also contributions to Volume 25, 1931-33, 1939 of the General Lexicon of Fine Artists ).

Mieczysław Wallis was the cousin of Arnold Walfisz and Sophie Goetzel-Leviathan (née Walfisz).

Fonts

(only translations)

  • Canaletto, Warsaw Painter , Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1954
  • Art Nouveau , Arkady, 1974
  • Arts and Signs (= Studies in Semiotics Volume 2). Indiana University Publications, 1975

literature

  • Zdzislaw Najder: Semiotics and Art: The Contribution of Mieczysław Wallis (1895–1975) . In: Thomas Sebeok u. a. (Ed.): The Semiotic Web 1989 . Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1990, ISBN 3-11-012350-9 , pp. 109-119 (with photo).
  • Teresa Pękala: Mieczysław Wallis (1895–1975) . In: Rocznik historii sztuki 36, 2011, pp. 69–79 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the article by Najder, as well as the note Aleksander Wallis: Sketches by Bronisław Abram Walfisz , in: News of the YIVO 161/162. Further biographical information can be found in the finding aid of his estate.
  2. ↑ See finding aid.
  3. ↑ See Elżbieta Grabska-Wallis .
personal data
SURNAME Wallis, Mieczysław
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wallis-Walfisz, Mieczysław
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish philosopher and art historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1975
Place of death Warsaw