LA SNIEJKA (LA NEIGEUSE) PEINTE PAR CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840)
La Sniejka (1603m)
Pologne-Tchéquie

In Paysage du Riesengebirge avec brumes, 1820, Musée de l'Ermitage, Saint-Pétersbourg.

 

La montagne
La Sniejka (1603m), « la neigeuse », en tchèque) est la plus haute montagne des monts des Géants (Riesengebirge).  Elle est traversée en son sommet par la frontière entre la Pologne et la Tchéquie. On peut y accéder par un télésiège depuis la ville tchèque de Pec pod Sněžkou. Son point culminant est aussi celui de la Tchéquie. Le sommet a une superficie plane importante, de plus de 120 000 mètres carrés ce qui a permis d'y construire plusieurs bâtiments. La  Sniejka est le point de départ ou le but de nombreux chemin de randonnée pédestre, dont le chemin de l'Amitié tchéco-polonaise, cyclistes et de ski de fond.Le bâtiment le plus ancien est la chapelle Saint-Laurent, haute de 14 mètres et située du côté polonais. Les travaux de construction ont commencé en 1653 mais durent être interrompus à cause d'un litige territorial entre le comte de Schaffgotsch et le comte Czernin, ce dernier revendiquant la propriété du sommet de la montagne. Finalement, la chapelle fut construite entre 1665 et 1681. Depuis quelques années, une messe rassemblant hommes d'église tchèques et polonais y est célébrée le 10 août à l'intention des victimes d'accidents de montagne ainsi que des secouristes. La Sniejka se situe au niveau du jet stream ce qui lui donne son climat perturbé avec des rafales de vent pouvant être très violentes (345,6 km/h le 9 mars 1990). Le climat est polaire alpin proche d'un climat subpolaire (les moyennes de juillet et d'août sont proches des 10 °C).

Le peintre
Caspar David Friedrich, est un  peintre et dessinateur allemand, considéré comme l'artiste le plus important et influent de la peinture romantique allemande du 19e siècle, est particulièrement connu pour deux de ses tableaux: Le Voyageur contemplant une mer de nuages (1818) et La Mer de glace (1823-1824). En 1834, lors de la visite de l'atelier de Friedrich, le sculpteur David d'Angers a un mot célèbre pour définir l'art de Friedrich : « Cet homme a découvert la tragédie du paysage. »
D'après les propres écrits de Friedrich, tous les éléments de la composition ont une signification symbolique. Les montagnes sont des allégories de la foi ; les rayons du soleil couchant symbolisent la fin du monde préchrétien et les sapins représentent l'espoir. Les tonalités souvent froides, l'exposition claire et les contours contrastés des tableaux de Friedrich mettent en relief l'aspect mélancolique, les sentiments de solitude et d'impuissance de l'homme face aux forces de la nature, que le peintre a voulu exprimer tout au long de son œuvre. En 1820, Friedrich reçoit le grand-duc Nicolas (1779-1845), futur empereur de Russie, dans son atelier à Dresde. Celui-ci lui achète quelques tableaux mélancoliques pour sa résidence d'été à Peterhof, et lui commande un tableau devant représenter un paysage nordique dans son « effroyable beauté ». Ce tableau, Le Naufrage de l'Espoir (1820), aujourd'hui disparu, a longtemps été confondu avec un tableau de 1823/24, La Mer de glace. Ce tableau qui dépeint le naufrage d'un bateau écrasé par des blocs de glace renoue avec le thème de la mort et de la Nature toute-puissante.

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2011-2024 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau  

 

LE MASSIF DU GIEWONT PEINT PAR WLASYSLAW JAROCKI

WLASYSLAW JAROCKI (1879-1965)
Massif du Giewont (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Pologne

In " Zakopane en hiver - Vue de Giewont", huile sur toile, 51,5 x 71,3 cm, 1950, Muzeum KUL

Le peintre
Władysław Jarocki est artiste peintre polonais, né en Ukraine. Il étudia à l'Université nationale polytechnique de Lviv, où il obtient son diplôme d'architecture, puis dans les années 1902 à 1906 à l'Académie des beaux-arts de Cracovieoù il fut l'élève de Józef Mehoffer et Leon Wyczółkowski. Entre 1907 et 1909 il perfectionna ses compétences à Paris à l'Académie Julian. En 1909, il devint membre de la «Sztuka» Société des artistes polonais, un groupe qui réunissait alors l'élite d'artistes polonais. En 1910, il adhéra à la Sécession viennoise. En 1911, il partit en voyage d'études en Italie, puis s'installa à Lviv. En tant que sujet de l'Empire austro-hongroise il servit dans l'armée de 1915 à 1916, documentant ses expériences sur le champ de bataille avec de très émouvants dessins. En 1917, Ii met à profit ses études d'architecture en dirigeant la reconstruction architecturale du quartier de Lviv pour le compte du Comité national de reconstruction de la Galice. En 1920, il prend des fonctions d'enseignant de dessin à l'Institut polytechnique de Lviv et à l'École industrielle d'État. L'année suivante, il devient professeur associé à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Cracovie. Il gravit progressivement les échelons de la hiérarchie universitaire, devenant doyen de la Faculté de peinture et de sculpture de 1925 à 1928 ; il fut vice-chancelier de 1933 à 1935 et nommé professeur ordinaire de peinture en 1937. Pendant l'occupation nazie, de 1940 à 1943, il dirigea le département de graphisme de la Städtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule de Cracovie. Après la guerre, il ne retourna pas à l'enseignement ; il prit sa retraite en 1947. Dans l'histoire de l'art polonais, l'héritage artistique de Jarocki est associé au folklore, aux images de la campagne, aux coutumes paysannes colorées et aux rituels des régions Hutsul et Podhale. Ces motifs folkloriques qui restent indéniablement aujourd'hui liés à son œuvre avaient attiré son attention dès ses études polytechniques.

La montagne
Giewont est un massif montagneux des Tatras en Pologne qui  culmine à 1 895 m. Le massif compte trois sommets (tous en m/mètres en AMSL) :
- Grand Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1 895 m - 6 217 pi)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1 867 m - 6 125 pi)
- Petit Giewont - Polonais Mały Giewont (1 728 m - 5 669 pi)
Un col de montagne sépare le Grand et le Long Giewont, connu sous le nom de Szczerba (1 823 m - 5 980 pi). Le Long Giewont et le Grand  Giewont sont situés à une altitude plus élevée que la ville voisine de Zakopane, ce qui les rend clairement visibles depuis cette ville.
Au sommet du Grand Giewont, on peut apercevoir une croix en acier de 15 m de hauteur érigée en 1901, qui marque l 'arrivée d'un site de pèlerinages religieux. Cette zone est connue pour  dangerosité surtout en période d'orages. La première ascension su sommet de Giewont a été entreprise en 1830 par Franciszek Herbich et Aleksander Zawadzki (un explorateur du 19ème siècle). La première ascension hivernale du Giewont a eu lieu en 1904 par un groupe de cinq alpinistes dirigé par Mariusz Zaruski. De nos jours, l'escalade du Giewont est strictement interdite. Par contre, la randonnée sur les sentiers est autorisée et d'un l'accès plutôt facile (sauf en hiver), ce qui explique pourquoi le Giewont est une destination très populaire chez les promeneurs et les touristes. En été, plusieurs milliers de touristes ptentent aisni de s'approcher du sommet chaque jour.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

GIEWONT PAINTED BY ALEKSANDER KOTSIS

ALEKSANDER KOTSIS (1836-1877)
Giewont Massif (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Poland

 In Giewont (oil on canvas, 39,5 x 55,5 cm, 1870, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie.

 
The  painter
Aleksander Kotsis  was a Polish painter. He created landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes in a combination Romantic and Realistic style. Most of his paintings are small. He grew up just outside Kraków, where his family had a small farm. They moved into Kraków in 1846 to become merchants and he began his studies in 1850 at the Academy of Fine Arts with Wojciech Stattler and Władysław Łuszczkiewicz. His father was not supportive of his studies, so he had to continue working in their shop and taking his lessons intermittently. In 1857, he began exhibiting with the Society of Friends of Fine Arts.  Finally he sold some paintings and, with the assistance of Stattler, obtained a scholarship from the Ministry of Religion and Education which enabled him to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, where he studied with Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, among others. He returned to Kraków in 1862 and became involved with a patriotic group that met in the studio of the sculptor, Parys Filippi, which was located in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. Although this group became involved in the January Uprising, Kotsis spent most of the years 1862 to 1864 painting church murals.
After receiving another scholarship in 1866, he moved to Warsaw, then to Paris in 1867, followed by Brussels. When he returned home, he established a studio and worked constantly, spending his summers painting en plein aire in the Tatra mountains. He also began exhibiting extensively throughout Poland and Northern Europe. After 1870, he travelled frequently and, from 1871 to 1875, lived primarily in Munich, where he often exhibited with the Kunstverein München.  He shared a studio with his friends, Antoni Kozakiewicz and Franz Streitt, and went on painting excursions to the Bavarian Alps with them. In 1875, he received an offer of a professorial chair at his alma mater but, that same year, was diagnosed with an incurable brain disorder. He was forced to refuse the chair and was unable to continue working.[ He died two years later.

The mountain
Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It is 1,895 m - at its highest.The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

GIEWONT MASSIF (2) PAINTED BY LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI

LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI (1852-1936)
Giewont Massif (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Poland

In Giewont o zachodzie slonca  (Mount Giewont at sunset) 1898, huile sur toile 101 × 159 cm 

Private collection, Poland,

The painter
Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (1852-1936) was one of the leading painters of the Young Poland movement, as well as the principal representative of Polish Realism in art of the Interbellum. From 1895 to 1911 he served as professor of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Kraków, and from 1934, ASP in Warsaw. He was a founding member of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" (Art, 1897). Wyczółkowski was born in Huta Miastowska near Garwolin in Congress Poland. At first, in his artistic experience he aimed at devoting himself to the genre of historical painting with documentary realism in the detail. After his trip to Paris though, he changed his focus and began implementing solutions typical of the French Impressionists. He painted dramatic landscapes, nudes and pastoral scenes with impasto and impressionist lighting effects . For a short while he came under the influence of Symbolism, and around 1900 darkened his palette. His work is characterized by a richness of form and complex technical means. Thanks to a friendship with Feliks Manggha Jasieński, he expanded his interests to include oriental scenes as well. Wyczółkowski was a master of flower arrangements and still life. He portrayed almost the entire art world of Kraków. Wyczółkowski died 1936 in Warsaw. After the war, on the anniversary of his birthday (11 April 1946), the District Museum in Bydgoszcz took up his name in recognition of his outstanding achievements. His widow donated to the Museum many of his paintings, drawings and a lot of personal memorabilia, including studio equipment. The collection, organized into a new department, consists of over 700 works of Leon Wyczółkowski. His most representative impressionist paintings can be found at the National Museum, Kraków and at the National Museum, Warsaw.

The mountain
Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It is 1,895 m - at its highest.The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

_______________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

GIEWONT MASSIF PAINTED BY LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI

 

LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI (1852-1936)
Giewont Massif (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Poland

In Giewont w śniegu (Giewont in the snow), pastel, 1905, 

Katowice Museum/Muzeum Śląskie w Katowicach, Poland

The painter 

Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (1852-1936) was one of the leading painters of the Young Poland movement, as well as the principal representative of Polish Realism in art of the Interbellum. From 1895 to 1911 he served as professor of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Kraków, and from 1934, ASP in Warsaw. He was a founding member of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" (Art, 1897). Wyczółkowski was born in Huta Miastowska near Garwolin in Congress Poland. At first, in his artistic experience he aimed at devoting himself to the genre of historical painting with documentary realism in the detail. After his trip to Paris though, he changed his focus and began implementing solutions typical of the French Impressionists. He painted dramatic landscapes, nudes and pastoral scenes with impasto and impressionist lighting effects . For a short while he came under the influence of Symbolism, and around 1900 darkened his palette. His work is characterized by a richness of form and complex technical means. Thanks to a friendship with Feliks Manggha Jasieński, he expanded his interests to include oriental scenes as well. Wyczółkowski was a master of flower arrangements and still life. He portrayed almost the entire art world of Kraków.  Wyczółkowski died 1936 in Warsaw. After the war, on the anniversary of his birthday (11 April 1946), the District Museum in Bydgoszcz took up his name in recognition of his outstanding achievements. His widow donated to the Museum many of his paintings, drawings and a lot of personal memorabilia, including studio equipment. The collection, organized into a new department, consists of over 700 works of Leon Wyczółkowski. His most representative impressionist paintings can be found at the National Museum, Kraków and at the National Museum, Warsaw.

 

The mountain

Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It  is 1,895 m - at its highest.

The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

_______________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE RYSY - TATRAS MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY STANISLAW WITKIEWICZ

STANISLAW WITKIEWICZ (1851-1915)
The Rysy (2,503 m -8,212 ft)
Poland - Slovakia border

In  Halny Wind in Tatra Mountains, 1885, oil on canvas

About this painting
Halny is a foehn wind that blows in southern Poland and in Slovakia in the Tatra Mountains of the Carpathians. The most turbulent halny blows in Podhale region of southern Poland, coming from the south, down the slopes of the Tatra Mountains; in Slovakia, on the other side of the mountains, it comes from the north. Halny is a warm windstorm that blows through the valleys. It is often disastrous; ripping off roofs, causing avalanches and, according to some people, can have some influence on mental states. Most halny occur in October and November, sometimes in February and March, rarely in other months. In May 1968 a destructive halny known as Wind of the Century where winds reportedly reached 288 km/h, destroyed large areas of forestry in southern Poland.

The mountain
The Rysy (2,503 m -8,212 ft), the the highest point in Poland. named Meeraugspitze in German and Tengerszem-csúcs in Hungarian is a mountain in the crest of the High Tatras, lying on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Rysy has three summits: the middle at 2,503 m (8,212 ft); the north-western at 2,499 m (8,199 ft); and the south-eastern at 2,473 m (8,114 ft). The north-western summit is the highest point of Poland ; the other two summits are on the Slovak side of the border, in the Prezov Region. A folk explanation on the Slovak side says that the name comes from the plural word rysy meaning "lynxes", although the habitat of the lynx does not extend above the timberline.
The Hungarian name Tengerszem-csúcs and the German name Meeraugspitze mean "eye-of-the-sea peak", from the glacial lake at the northern foot of the mountain, called "eye of the sea" (Morskie Oko in Polish). Morskie Oko (literally Eye of the Sea") is the largest and fourth-deepest lake (50, 8 m - 166 ft) in the Tatra Mountains. It is located deep within the Tatra National Park, in the Rybi Potok Valley, of the High Tatras mountain range at a n altitude of 1,395m - 4,577ft.
Many Swiss Pines also grow around the lake as shown in this painting.

The artist
Stanisław Witkiewicz was a Polish painter, art theoretician, and amateur architect, known for his creation of "Zakopane Style". He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg (1868–1871) and furthered his studies in Munich (1872–1875). In 1875, he moved to Warsaw and set up a painting workshop in the laundry at the Hotel Europejski. In 1884–1887, Witkiewicz worked as the artistic director of "Wędrowiec" weekly, for which he wrote a series of articles concerning the values of a work of art and the role of art critics (published in book form under the title "Painting and criticism among us", in 1891 and 1899). In 1887, he held the same position in "Kłosy" magazine.
In 1886, he visited Zakopane for the first time. He developed a fascination with the mountains, the Podhale highlanders and their vernacular traditions. His ambition became to create a Polish national style through extraction of all-Polish forms from the architectural and decorative art of the highlanders. He formulated the Zakopane Style (styl zakopiański) (also known as Witkiewicz Style in architecture, in which he designed homes and interiors for well-off, artistically inclined Poles. He was strongly associated with Zakopane and promoted it in the art community. Witkiewicz had strong views against formal education: "school is completely at odds with the psychological make-up of human beings". He applied this principle in his son's upbringing and was disappointed when the 20-year-old Witkacy chose to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1908, suffering from tuberculosis, the elder Witkiewicz left his family in Zakopane and relocated to Lovran, a fashionable resort in what was then Austria-Hungary, which today is in Croatia. He died there in 1915.

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

RIESENGEBIRGE AND SZRENICA (3) PAINTED BY CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

 

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840)
Riesengebirge (1,362 m - 4,469 ft)
Poland - Czech Republic border

In New Moon above the Riesengebirge Mountains, 1810, pen and gray ink with watercolor over graphite on wove paper overall, 26.2 x 36.5 cm, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

The mountain
Szrenica (1,362 m - 4,469 ft) is a mountain peak situated in the western part of Karkonosze on Polish and Czech border within the Karkonosze National Park. Its name originates from the Polish word szron (frost). There is a weather station situated close to the summit. The peak is deforested, both the southern and the northern parts are used intensively for skiing. The elevation gain compared to the main range is approximately 60 m. Szrenica Is part of the Giant Mountains range (Riesengebirge in german) frequently painted by the most famous romantic german painter Caspar David Friedrich.

The painter
Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, considered as the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
Friedrich was born in Pomerania, where he began to study art. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. A disillusionment with materialistic society was giving rise everywhere in Europe. This shift in ideals was often expressed through a reevaluation of the natural world, as artists such as Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) and John Constable (1776–1837) sought to depict nature as a "divine creation, to be set against the artifice of human civilization".
Friedrich was a prolific artist who produced more than 500 attributed works. In line with the Romantic ideals of his time, he intended his paintings to function as pure aesthetic statements, so he was cautious that the titles given to his work were not overly descriptive or evocative. It is likely that some of today's more literal titles, such as The Stages of Life, were not given by the artist himself, but were instead adopted during one of the revivals of interest in Friedrich. Complications arise when dating Friedrich's work, in part because he often did not directly name or date his canvases. He kept a carefully detailed notebook on his output, however, which has been used by scholars to tie paintings to their completion dates.


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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

OSOBITA AND TATRAS MOUNTAINS BY STEFAN FILIPKIEWICZ

 

STEFAN FILIPKIEWICZ (1879-1944) 

Mount Osobita  (1,687m - 5,535ft)

Slovakia - Poland border 

In Tatra Mountains in Winter, 1910,  oil on canvas

  The painter
Stefan Filipkiewicz pronounced was a Polish painter and designer, notable for his landscapes inspired by the Young Poland movement. He was a leading representative of the Polish art nouveau style of painting.
His landscapes of the Tatra Mountains and the region of Podhale were first exhibited in Kraków in 1899 at the Palace of Art run by the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Art. Between 1900 and 1908 Filipkiewicz studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Józef Mehoffer, Leon Wyczółkowski, Jan Stanisławski and Józef Pankiewicz.
In 1908, Filipkiewicz joined the Society of Polish Artists. He became the contributing artist to the legendary Zielony Balonik art-and-literary cabaret. In 1929, Filipkiewicz was awarded the Golden Medal of the Universal Exhibition in Poznań. Four years later, he was also awarded by the Polish Academy of Skills for his works. During the 1939 Invasion of Poland he fled to Hungary, where he became an active member of several underground organizations. Arrested by the Gestapo, he was sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp where he was murdered.

The mountain

Osobitá  (1,687m- 5,535ft)  as its name tells ("the lonely one") is a lonely top in the northern part of the Western Slovak Tatra Mountains, about 17 km from Zakopane (Poland). It is not very high, but very distinct and far from the main Tatra ridge. Osobitá constitutes a distinct geomorphological unit which represents just by itself 12% of the surface of the Slovak Western Tatras. This moutain was mentioned as early as 1615 when Polish highlanders described the Polish Tatras (wider during this time) as extending "From Osobita to Hawran".

There are the three distinct but close tops with heights of 1,617, 1,521 and 1,587 m (the last two are separated by the pass "sedlo pod Osobitou". There many caves in this karst zone, not all yet been investigated. In 1997, the most famous are Bezdenna and Okolik. Here also, as in many other places in the Tatra Mountains, was a mining activity for iron. Now, from these times remain only few tunnels reaching dozens of meters deep. 

In the past, the mountain was an important pastoral center, with five wide meadows. In the seventeenth century it could host up to 1500 head of sheep and cows. Later it decreased. 

Osobitá separates 3 valleys: Zuberska Dolina, Blatna Dolina and Oravicka Sucha Dolina. No other summit of the Orava region is as clearly visible, and very early the mountain attracted a lot of visitors. The first recorded visit was made by Titus Chałubiński in 1870, the first recorded winter one by Mariusz Zaruski with companions in 1906. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was even a mountain hut at Mala Osobitá (1,583 m). Since 1989, the top is no longer available for tourists, since this one is included in the nature reserve (458 hectares).  There are two ways to reach Osobitá, from Slovakia and from Poland. Both are very easy and without difficulty, but the first one is as short as the second is very long.

Nowadays, it is impossible the reach the real top of Osobitá, which is located in the Natura 2000 zone, in order to protect fragile fauna such as eagles. Hence, strictly forbidden as mentionned previously. Including with a guide, or holding an UIAA licence !

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

RIESENGEBIRGE AND SZRENICA PAINTED BY CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840)

Szrenica (1,362 m - 4,469 ft)

Poland - Czech Republic border

In Riesengebirge - View of the Small Sturmhaube from Warmbrunn, 1810, Oil on canvas, 45 x 58 cm Puškin State Museum of Fine Arts., Moscow

The mountain
Szrenica (1,362 m - 4,469 ft) is a mountain peak situated in the western part of Karkonosze on Polish and Czech border within the Karkonosze National Park. Its name originates from the Polish word szron (frost). There is a weather station situated close to the summit. The peak is deforested, both the southern and the northern parts are used intensively for skiing. The elevation gain compared to the main range is approximately 60 m. Szrenica Is part of the Giant Mountains range (Riesengebirge in german) frequently painted by the  most famous romantic german painter Caspar David Friedrich.

The painter
Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, considered as the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
Friedrich was born in Pomerania, where he began to study art. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. A disillusionment with materialistic society was giving rise everywhere in Europe. This shift in ideals was often expressed through a reevaluation of the natural world, as artists such as Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) and John Constable (1776–1837) sought to depict nature as a "divine creation, to be set against the artifice of human civilization".
Friedrich's work brought him renown early in his career, and contemporaries such as the French sculptor David d'Angers (1788–1856) spoke of him as a man who had discovered "the tragedy of landscape". Nevertheless, his work fell from favour during his later years, and he died in obscurity, and in the words of the art historian Philip B. Miller, "half mad". As Germany moved towards modernisation in the late 19th century, a new sense of urgency characterized its art, and Friedrich's contemplative depictions of stillness came to be seen as the products of a bygone age. The early 20th century brought a renewed appreciation of his work, beginning in 1906 with an exhibition of thirty-two of his paintings and sculptures in Berlin. By the 1920s his paintings had been discovered by the Expressionists, and in the 1930s and early 1940s Surrealists and Existentialists frequently drew ideas from his work. The rise of Nazism in the early 1930s again saw a resurgence in Friedrich's popularity, but this was followed by a sharp decline as his paintings were, by association with the Nazi movement, interpreted as having a nationalistic aspect. It was not until the late 1970s that Friedrich regained his reputation as an icon of the German Romantic movement and a painter of international importance.
Friedrich was a prolific artist who produced more than 500 attributed works. In line with the Romantic ideals of his time, he intended his paintings to function as pure aesthetic statements, so he was cautious that the titles given to his work were not overly descriptive or evocative. It is likely that some of today's more literal titles, such as The Stages of Life, were not given by the artist himself, but were instead adopted during one of the revivals of interest in Friedrich. Complications arise when dating Friedrich's work, in part because he often did not directly name or date his canvases. He kept a carefully detailed notebook on his output, however, which has been used by scholars to tie paintings to their completion dates.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SCHNEEKOPPE (4) BY CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840)

Schneekoppe or Sněћka or Śnieżka (1,603m - 2,259ft) 

Poland - Czech Republic border

 In Riesengebirgslandschaft mit aufsteigendem Nebel, 
c. 1819-20 oil, on canvas

About the painting
The painting shows the view of the Seven Reasons in the Giant Mountains, above which appears The Snow Pic (Schneekoppe or Sněћka or Śnieżka in German, polish and Czech). In the barren, quiet highlands, the vegetation is scanty, isolated dead trees that have withered over the years. Even moss and lichen are thin and leave the piled boulders uncovered. The image section gives one's view of the pulling and falling of mountain ridges, which seem to weigh in the fog; no sign of civilization is visible, instead timelessness seems to dominate and the view of a primeval landscape falls. The way in which the motives are composed, as well as the differentiated, melancholic color values, suggest the basic idea of ​​a mystification of the natural phenomenon. In addition, it has been possible to make credible that Friedrich has created a Christian-religious expression vocabulary for his pictures, which in this case z. For example, the abysses and valleys are understood as a parable of earthly existence, and its threat through death symbolizes the dead trees. The rocks symbolize the faith, the mountains God. In Friedrich's oeuvre the present one is the earliest of several versions of treeless regions of the Giant Mountains.

The mountain 

Schneekoppe (1,603m  - 2,259ft) in German or Sněћka in Czech or Śnieżka in Polish, is a mountain on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland, the most prominent point of the Silesian Ridge in the Krkonoše mountains. Its summit is the highest point in the Czech Republic, in the Krkonoše and in the entire Sudetes range system.

The first historical account of an ascent to the peak is in 1456, by an unknown Venetian merchant searching for precious stones. The first settlements on the mountain soon appeared, being primarily mining communities, tapping into its deposits of copper, iron and arsenic. The mining shafts, totalling 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) in length, remain to this day.

Full Wandering Vertexes entry  =>

The painter 
Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, considered as the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
Full Wandering Vertexes entry  =>

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

TATRA MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY JAN STANISLAWSKI

JAN STANISLAWSKI (1860-1907) 

Mount Osobita  (1,687m- 5,535ft)

Slovakia - Poland border 

 In Pejzaz Tatra landscape, 1903,  oil on canvas, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie 

The mountain

Osobitá  (1,687m- 5,535ft)  as its name tells ("the lonely one") is a lonely top in the northern part of the Western Slovak Tatra Mountains, about 17 km from Zakopane (Poland). It is not very high, but very distinct and far from the main Tatra ridge. Osobitá constitutes a distinct geomorphological unit which represents just by itself 12% of the surface of the Slovak Western Tatras. This moutain was mentioned as early as 1615 when Polish highlanders described the Polish Tatras (wider during this time) as extending "From Osobita to Hawran".

There are the three distinct but close tops with heights of 1,617, 1,521 and 1,587 m (the last two are separated by the pass "sedlo pod Osobitou". There many caves in this karst zone, not all yet been investigated. In 1997, the most famous are Bezdenna and Okolik. Here also, as in many other places in the Tatra Mountains, was a mining activity for iron. Now, from these times remain only few tunnels reaching dozens of meters deep. 

In the past, the mountain was an important pastoral center, with five wide meadows. In the seventeenth century it could host up to 1500 head of sheep and cows. Later it decreased. 

Osobitá separates 3 valleys: Zuberska Dolina, Blatna Dolina and Oravicka Sucha Dolina. No other summit of the Orava region is as clearly visible, and very early the mountain attracted a lot of visitors. The first recorded visit was made by Titus Chałubiński in 1870, the first recorded winter one by Mariusz Zaruski with companions in 1906. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was even a mountain hut at Mala Osobitá (1,583 m). Since 1989, the top is no longer available for tourists, since this one is included in the nature reserve (458 hectares).  There are two ways to reach Osobitá, from Slovakia and from Poland. Both are very easy and without difficulty, but the first one is as short as the second is very long.

Nowadays, it is impossible the reach the real top of Osobitá, which is located in the Natura 2000 zone, in order to protect fragile fauna such as eagles. Hence, strictly forbidden as mentionned previously. Including with a guide, or holding an UIAA licence !

The painter 

Jan Stanisławski was a Polish modernist painter, art educator, founder and member of various innovative art groups and literary societies. He began to learn painting at the art studio in Warsaw which later gave rise to the School of Fine Arts, under Wojciech Gerson.  In 1885, he continued his studies in Paris under Charles Emile Auguste Durand. While based in Paris, he travelled much, visiting Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and eastern Galicia.
His early works were exhibited at the inauguration of the Salon du Champ-de-Mars in Paris in 1890 and at the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts in 1892. In the 1890s, he travelled extensively and his sketchbooks filled up with drawings from Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Kraków, and various places in Ukraine.  In 1897, he initiated and helped organise the Separate Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture at Kraków’s Cloth Hall. That year, he became a teacher of landscape painting at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków, and in 1906 – after the school was upgraded to an academy in 1900 – was granted full professorship and also taught at Teodor Axentowicz’s Private School of Painting and Drawing for Women and at Teofila Certowicz’s Art School for Women in Kraków.
He co-founded the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" ("Art") in Kraków in 1897.  In 1898, he became a member of the Viennese Secession, and his works were exhibited among theirs in 1901, 1902 and 1905. In 1901, he became a founding member of the Polish Applied Arts Society. He worked in the Wawel Castle Reconstruction Committee and was involved in the activities of the Green Balloon (Zielony Balonik) Cabaret. After his death, two exhibitions were opened at the Palace of Art by the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts in November 1907, one to show 154 of his oil paintings, as well as drawings and watercolours, and the other to present the works of his numerous outstanding students.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

GIEWONT PAINTED BY WALERY ELJASZ RADZIKOWSKI

WALERY ELJASZ RADZIKOWSKI (1840-1905)

Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)

Poland 

The mountain 
Giewont Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft) is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It is 1,895 m - at its highest. The massif has three peaks :
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.
Giewont lies in the area of the Polish Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy). In Polish folklore it is associated with a legend about oversleeping knights, who will awake when Poland is in danger.

The painter
Walery Eljasz Radzikowski was a Polish painter and photographer, promoter of the Tatra Mountains and Zakopane, co-founder of the Tatra Society, author of Tatra guides, a correspondent member of the Society of the Polish National Museum in Rapperswil from 1897, a member of the Faculty of the Gymnastic Society "Sokół" in Krakow in 1895.
He painted mainly historical paintings, landscapes of the Tatras, as well as sights of Krakow's landmarks, portraits, religious paintings and wall paintings. During his studies, together with his colleagues, he took outdoor trips, during which he painted sketches, and landscapes. He created not only on canvas, but also on natural ground, such as the image of Our Lady of Skalska on a limestone wall in the Mnikowska Valley. During the expeditions to the Tatras in drawings and paintings, he preserved the mountain views and customs of the highlanders.
In 1890, he began to photograph the Tatra Mountains, local construction, residents' traditions and their costumes. They served him as a help for paintings and drawings, they were also published in magazines, albums and in the form of postcards. He was not a pioneer of the Tatra photography (the first photos were taken at the end of the 1850s by Walery Rzewuski and Meletius Dutkiewicz), but he contributed to its popularization.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

ZAWRAT PASS BY ALEKSANDER MROCZKOWSKI

ALEKSANDER MROCZKOWSKI (1850-1927)

Zawrat  pass  (2,159 m - 7,083ft) 

Poland 

 In  Zawrat Mountain, 1905, oil on canvas,  Tatra Museum, Zakopane.

The mountain 

Zawrat  (2,159 m - 7,083ft) is  a narrow pass  in the long eastern ridge of Świnica in the High Tatras separating Zawratowa Turnia (2,247 m) from Mały Goat Wierch ( 2,226 m). It is one of the two extreme points of the Orla Perci (western) route .

Zawrat is available for tourists directly from Świnica or from valleys lying on both sides of the ridge: Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich and Dolina Gąsienicowa. 

The name Zawrat and its diminutive - Zawracik are quite often found in the Tatra nomenclature (for example, Zawracie near Wołowiec or Przełęcz nad Zawratami in the ridge of Roháče). They usually mean steep passes, switches or other similar, steep objects. 

Zawrat was already from Zakopane to the Sea Eye in the 19th century. The first recorded tourist crossings: Jakub Krauthofer and Jan Para in August 1842.  The first winter crossing (with the participation of a woman, which was rare at the time): Jan Grzegorzewski, Miss Stanisława Pisarzewska and her brother-in-law, landowner from Mazovia Leon Józef Marian Duczymiński with guides: Bartłomiej Obrochta , G. Rojana and Józef Trzebunia - January 21, 1894. In the nineteenth century, the passage through Zawrat was considered difficult, it was a test of tourist skills. On Zawrat, there were m.in. Stanisław Witkiewicz (his tour from 1888 described in Na przełczy ), Stefan Żeromski (1892), Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Jan Kasprowicz, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, and Włodzimierz Lenin.

By 2012, 17 fatal accidents occurred in Zawrac.

The painter 

Aleksander Mroczkowski was a Polish painter who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the studio of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Feliks Szynalewski and Leon Dembowski, and then in 1873-1877 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich  in the studio of A. Wagner and O. Seitz.

He created in a realistic style, he often took up the subject of Tatra landscapes and rural landscapes, such as Landscape with a homestead (1878, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź ) and W harvestwa (1882, National Museum in Warsaw). He also painted portraits, genre scenes, historical and sacred compositions, he also dealt with decorative painting.

______________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

GERLACHOVSKY STIT (2) BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)

Gechovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft)

Slovakia- Poland

  In Tatry, watercolor, Private collection 

The mountain 

 Gerlachovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft), Gerlach Peak in english, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the whole 1,500 km (930 mi) long Carpathian mountain chain. The pyramidal shape of the massif is marked by a huge cirque. Despite its relatively low elevation, the about 2,000 m vertical rise from the valley floor makes Gerlachovský štít  soar. Mistaken for an average mountain in the rugged High Tatras range in the more distant past, it has since played a symbolic role in the eyes of the rulers and populations of several Central European nations, to the point that between the 19th and mid-20th century, it had four different names with six name reversals. It managed to be the highest mountain of the Kingdom of Hungary, and of the countries of Czechoslovakia and Slovakia within the span of only about two decades of the 20th century.

Gerlachovský štít  shares its geology and ecology with the rest of the High Tatras, but provides a worthwhile environment for biologists as the highest ground anywhere in Europe north of the parallel linking approximately Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. With the travel restrictions imposed by the Eastern Bloc, the mountain was particularly treasured as the loftiest point available to climb to by Czechs, East Germans, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks. It continues to attract its share of visitors although the local authorities have been continually adding new restrictions on access.

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

GERLACHOVSKY STIT BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)

Gechovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft)

Slovakia- Poland

  In Turnie tatrzanskie, watercolor, Private collection 

The mountain 

 Gerlachovský štít (2,654 m - 8,709 ft), Gerlach Peak in english, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the whole 1,500 km (930 mi) long Carpathian mountain chain. The pyramidal shape of the massif is marked by a huge cirque. Despite its relatively low elevation, the about 2,000 m vertical rise from the valley floor makes Gerlachovský štít  soar. Mistaken for an average mountain in the rugged High Tatras range in the more distant past, it has since played a symbolic role in the eyes of the rulers and populations of several Central European nations, to the point that between the 19th and mid-20th century, it had four different names with six name reversals. It managed to be the highest mountain of the Kingdom of Hungary, and of the countries of Czechoslovakia and Slovakia within the span of only about two decades of the 20th century.

Gerlachovský štít  shares its geology and ecology with the rest of the High Tatras, but provides a worthwhile environment for biologists as the highest ground anywhere in Europe north of the parallel linking approximately Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. With the travel restrictions imposed by the Eastern Bloc, the mountain was particularly treasured as the loftiest point available to climb to by Czechs, East Germans, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks. It continues to attract its share of visitors although the local authorities have been continually adding new restrictions on access.

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

_______________________________
2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THE GIEWONT BY JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI

JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI (1802-1847)

Giewont (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)

Poland

The mountains 

Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It  is 1,895 m - at its highest.

The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):

- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)

- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)

- Small Giewont -  Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)

There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m-  5, 980 ft).  Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.

On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.

The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

The painter 

Jan Nepomucen Głowacki was a Polish realist painter of the Romantic era, regarded as the most outstanding landscape painter of the early 19th century in Poland under the foreign partitions. Głowacki studied painting at the Kraków School of Fine Arts and later at the academies of Prague and Vienna, as well as Rome and Munich. He returned to Kraków in 1828, and became a teacher of painting and drawing. From 1842 he served as a professor in the Faculty of Landscape Painting at the School of Fine Arts. His work can be found at the National Museum of Poland and its branches. Some of his work was looted by Nazi Germany in World War II and has never been recovered.

Głowacki was the first Polish artist to devote an entire series of works to the Tatra Mountains.

 He was also the first, to produce studies for his oil paintings on strenuous outdoor trips. Landscapes such as "Widok z Poronina" (View from Poronin, 1836) and "Morskie Oko" are said to mark the beginning of realist Polish mountain painting.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

SCHNEEKOPPE (3) PAINTED BY CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH (1774-1840)

Schneekoppe or Sněћka or Śnieżka (1,603m - 2,259ft) 

Poland - Czech Republic border   

 In Ruine im Riesengebirge, oil on canvas, Pommersches Landesmuseum

The mountain 

Schneekoppe (1,603m  - 2,259ft) in German or Sněћka in Czech or Śnieżka in Polish, is a mountain on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland, the most prominent point of the Silesian Ridge in the Krkonoše mountains. Its summit is the highest point in the Czech Republic, in the Krkonoše and in the entire Sudetes range system.

The first historical account of an ascent to the peak is in 1456, by an unknown Venetian merchant searching for precious stones. The first settlements on the mountain soon appeared, being primarily mining communities, tapping into its deposits of copper, iron and arsenic. The mining shafts, totalling 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) in length, remain to this day.

The first recorded German name was Riseberg ("giant mountain"), mentioned by Georg Agricola in 1546. Fifteen years later the name Riesenberg appears on Martin Helwig's map of Silesia. The German name later changed to Riesenkoppe ("giant top") and finally to Schneekoppe ("snow top", "snowy head").

In Czech, the mountain was initially called Pahrbek Sněžný. Later Sněžka, with the eventual name Sněžovka, meaning "snowy" or "snow-covered", which was adopted in 1823. 

An older Polish name for the mountain was Góra Olbrzymia, meaning "giant mountain".

The first building on the mountaintop was the Chapel of Saint Lawrence (Laurentiuskapelle), built ca. 1665–1681 by the Silesian Schaffgotsch family to mark their dominion, serving also as an inn for a brief period of time. The territory including the mines were the property of the Schaffgotsch family until 1945. The so-called Prussian hut was built on the Silesian (now Polish) side in 1850, followed by the Bohemian hut on the Bohemian (now Czech) side in 1868, both built with the purpose of providing lodging. The Prussian hut was rebuilt twice after fires (1857 and 1862), and the (after 1945) "Polish hut" was finally demolished in 1967. The Bohemian hut fell into disrepair after 1990 and was demolished in 2004.

The painter 
Caspar David Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, considered as the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
Friedrich was born in Pomerania, where he began to study art. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. A disillusionment with materialistic society was giving rise everywhere in Europe. This shift in ideals was often expressed through a reevaluation of the natural world, as artists such as Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) and John Constable (1776–1837) sought to depict nature as a "divine creation, to be set against the artifice of human civilization".
Friedrich's work brought him renown early in his career, and contemporaries such as the French sculptor David d'Angers (1788–1856) spoke of him as a man who had discovered "the tragedy of landscape". Nevertheless, his work fell from favour during his later years, and he died in obscurity, and in the words of the art historian Philip B. Miller, "half mad". As Germany moved towards modernisation in the late 19th century, a new sense of urgency characterized its art, and Friedrich's contemplative depictions of stillness came to be seen as the products of a bygone age. The early 20th century brought a renewed appreciation of his work, beginning in 1906 with an exhibition of thirty-two of his paintings and sculptures in Berlin. By the 1920s his paintings had been discovered by the Expressionists, and in the 1930s and early 1940s Surrealists and Existentialists frequently drew ideas from his work. The rise of Nazism in the early 1930s again saw a resurgence in Friedrich's popularity, but this was followed by a sharp decline as his paintings were, by association with the Nazi movement, interpreted as having a nationalistic aspect.  It was not until the late 1970s that Friedrich regained his reputation as an icon of the German Romantic movement and a painter of international importance.
Friedrich was a prolific artist who produced more than 500 attributed works. In line with the Romantic ideals of his time, he intended his paintings to function as pure aesthetic statements, so he was cautious that the titles given to his work were not overly descriptive or evocative. It is likely that some of today's more literal titles, such as The Stages of Life, were not given by the artist himself, but were instead adopted during one of the revivals of interest in Friedrich. Complications arise when dating Friedrich's work, in part because he often did not directly name or date his canvases. He kept a carefully detailed notebook on his output, however, which has been used by scholars to tie paintings to their completion dates.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MIELUSZOWIECKI PEAK CZERNY BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)   

 Mieluszowiecki Peak Czarny (2,410m - 7,906ft ) 

Poland - Slovakia border

In Tatry,  1901, oil on canvas, National Museum Krakovia

The mountain 
 Mieluszowiecki Peak Czarny (2,410m - 7,906ft )  meaning  The Black Mountain peak is a summit in the High Tatras located on the Polish-Slovak border, in the main ridge of the Tatras.
The summit was formerly called the Młyguszуw Peak over Czarny. Its walls fall with half a kilometer perches towards this lake. The north-eastern perch is finished by Kazalnica Mięguszowiecka, from which a famous north-east wall , erected vertically and cut by eaves, descends. The eastern wall (about 300 m high) falls in the direction of the Upper Devil's Kotta , whose basin is bounded by the north-eastern roost of the Mieguszowiecki Black Peak and the cliffs descending from the walls of Beef Ridge. In the north-west ridge, falling in the direction of Mięguszowiecka Przełęcz pod Chłopkiem, there is a lonely turkey called Chłopek (hence the name of the pass).

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MOSRSKIE OKO & THE RYSY PAINTED BY JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI (1802-1847)

JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI (1802-1847) 

The Rysy (2,503 m (8,212 ft) 

Lake Morskie Oko (1,395m - 4,577ft )

Poland - Slovakia border 

 In  Morskie Oko w Tatrach, 1837, Muzeum Narodowe Krakowie, Poland

The mountain and the lake 
The Rysy (2,503 m -8,212 ft), the  the highest point in Poland. named Meeraugspitze in German and  Tengerszem-csúcs in Hungarian is a mountain in the crest of the High Tatras, lying on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Rysy has three summits: the middle at 2,503 m (8,212 ft); the north-western at 2,499 m (8,199 ft); and the south-eastern at 2,473 m (8,114 ft). The north-western summit is the highest point of Poland ; the other two summits are on the Slovak side of the border, in the Prezov Region. A folk explanation on the Slovak side says that the name comes from the plural word rysy meaning "lynxes", although the habitat of the lynx does not extend above the timberline.
The Hungarian name Tengerszem-csúcs and the German name Meeraugspitze mean "eye-of-the-sea peak", from the glacial lake at the northern foot of the mountain, called "eye of the sea" (Morskie Oko in Polish).  Morskie Oko (literally Eye of the Sea") is the largest and fourth-deepest lake (50, 8 m - 166 ft)  in the Tatra Mountains. It is located deep within the Tatra National Park,  in the Rybi Potok Valley, of the High Tatras mountain range at a n altitude of 1,395m - 4,577ft.
Many Swiss Pines also grow around the lake as shown in this painting.
Recently The Morskie Oko has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, one of the five most beautiful lakes in the world.

The painter 
Jan Nepomucen Głowacki was a Polish realist painter of the Romantic era, regarded as the most outstanding landscape painter of the early 19th century in Poland under the foreign partitions. Głowacki studied painting at the Kraków School of Fine Arts and later at the academies of Prague and Vienna, as well as Rome and Munich. He returned to Kraków in 1828, and became a teacher of painting and drawing. From 1842 he served as a professor in the Faculty of Landscape Painting at the School of Fine Arts. His work can be found at the National Museum of Poland and its branches. Some of his work was looted by Nazi Germany in World War II and has never been recovered.
Głowacki was the first Polish artist to devote an entire series of works to the Tatra Mountains.
 He was also the first, to produce studies for his oil paintings on strenuous outdoor trips. Landscapes such as "Widok z Poronina" (View from Poronin, 1836) and "Morskie Oko" (above) are said to mark the beginning of realist Polish mountain painting.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
 by Francis Rousseau