Stanisław Wyspiański

Polish dramatist and painter

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Stanisław Wyspiański (born January 15, 1869, Kraków, Poland—died November 28, 1907, Kraków) was a Polish dramatist and painter, a leading artist of the early 20th-century period who was noted literarily for his aspiration to a uniquely Polish national theatre. He was a prominent member of the Young Poland movement.

Wyspiański’s early education included classical literature and fine arts. In 1890 he received a grant enabling him to visit the art cities of western and central Europe; between 1890 and 1894 he paid several visits to Paris. His first published work, Legenda (1897; “A Legend”), was a dramatic fantasy. It was followed by two dramas that dealt with contemporary topics but were structured like classical Greek tragedies, Klątwa (1899; “The Malediction”) and Sędziowie (1907; “The Judges”). His poem Kazimierz Wielki (1900; “Casimir the Great”) evoked Polish history and projected it on modern times. Wesele (1901; The Wedding, filmed in 1973 by Andrzej Wajda), his greatest and most popular play, premiered in 1901. Its story was suggested by the actual marriage of the poet Lucjan Rydel to a peasant girl in a village near Kraków. The marriage is used symbolically to present a sweeping panorama of Poland’s past, present, and future. The great emotional and political impact of Wesele shook Kraków at its first performance; the drama was later staged throughout Poland. A successor play, Wyzwolenie (“Liberation”), published two years later, contained ideological commentary on Wesele.

In 1905 Wyspiański was appointed professor at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. His paintings, especially his designs for stained-glass windows, reveal his genius for dramatic and visionary composition.