Karol Mondral

Karol Mondral
Born	Karol Mondral (1880-01-26)January 26, 1880 Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland
Died	December 16, 1957(1957-12-16) (aged 77) Poznań, Poland
Nationality	Polish
Occupation	Painter

Karol Mondral (1880-1957) was a Polish painter and graphic artist.

Biography

Youth

Karol Mondral was born on Januray 25, 1880, in Warsaw, to Jan Mondral and Maria née Paczuska.

Between 1894 and 1900, he studied at the Warsaw Drawing School (now the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw) with professors such as Wojciech Gerson, Jan Kauzik or Adam Badowski.

In 1902, Karol went to Kraków to continue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, in the class of Leon Wyczółkowski. Unfortunately, the death of Karol's father (he ran a small painting and decoration workshop in Powiśle) forced his son to return to Warsaw, he took over the care of his mother and younger siblings. He ran a workshop, made portraits, designed posters, playbills, book covers, models for silver products in the Hempel factory, but he still dreamed of graphic design.

in Warsaw in 1905 that he met Roma Pogorzelska, an "extraordinary person", future wife, married on August 27, 1907. Miss Roma organized concerts while working (!) at Kerntoph's Piano Factory. painters, and young Karol played the violin excellently, taking lessons from the first violinist of the symphony orchestra in Warsaw.

Life in Paris

Stefan Stasiak, a friend of both, was going to Paris to study, to study oriental studies, he invited people to visit him. Karol's entire artistic career might not have come true if not for the composer and pianist Louis de Fleury and his rich wife, who offered the painter a loan of 50 rubles for a joint trip to Paris. In 1909, he traveled to Paris in order to perfect his technique of etching. Mondral settled in Montparnasse, at "La ruche": Mondral made many trips around France and Switzerland, while looking for subjects for his works. This period was one of intense creativity, which allowed him to participate in salon exhibitions. A wealthy American businessman (called "the coffee man") would come to Paris once a year, buy everything that the artist managed to create in a year. Thanks to this, it was possible to rent a second studio and realize the dream of having his own etching press. Initially, the artist showed in his engravings picturesque corners of the French province, using in an original way the tradition of Whistler's landscape art and impressionist imaging conventions; he meticulously recreated the varied texture of stone facades of small-town streets, suggestively rendered the vibrating atmosphere that blurred architectural details in the fragmented buildings of Paris and Cluny (Abbey in Cluny, 1912). Fragmentary views of Concarneau and St. Jean de Luz added the value of picturesqueness by intensifying the play of lights and shadows (St. Jean de Luz, 1912). In his Parisian etchings, the decorative "lattice" of tree branches, seen in Japanese woodcuts, obscures the bulk of churches (By the Seine, 1910). Breton fishermen (The Fish Merchant, 1912; The Type from Concarneau, 1915).

During World War I, the family lived mainly in Paris, also traveling to Brittany and Lake Geneva. Romana and other women actively supported Poles fighting in the Russian army in France and on the Eastern Front, making rag dolls as souvenirs, as mentioned by Karol's daughter Camilla. In November 1918, an exhibition was organized for the Invalids of the Polish Army in France with the participation of 38 exhibiting artists. Konstanty Brandel brings from Poland a job offer as a graphic teacher at the State School of Art Industry in Bydgoszcz.

Period in Bydgoszcz and Poznań

On April 1, 1922, Mondral returned to Poland and settled in Bydgoszcz, as the head of the Graphic Department at the National School of Arts and Crafts. There, he set up a vocational school for printers. The family lived at at ul. St. Trójcy 11, and then in a villa at Chopina 3. He accepted membership in the City Council commission for making etchings depicting the views of Bydgoszcz, he presented 100 engravings at the Graphic Exhibition at the City Museum. Karol Mondral documented the architecture of Bydgoszcz (the views of Bydgoszcz and Krzemieniec).

In March 1, 1931, the artist was employed as a professor at the Faculty of Graphic Arts of the State School of Decorative Arts (Template:Lang-pl) in Poznań, but Karol and his family moved only in September 1932, changing apartments several times. In 1931, transfered to , where he took the position of . He chaired the school studio of lithography and dry-engraving techniques until the outbreak of World War II.

The outbreak of war found Mondral in Warsaw, on his way from Krzemieniec to Poznań. However, he got there, probably to receive a sentence from the occupation authorities to wander, first to the resettlement camp in Poznań, then to the transit camp near Lublin. Karol then stayed in Warsaw until the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, eventually being transported to Tarnów.; During the occupation, his flat in Poznan was occupied by German soldiers: The furnishings of the apartment and studio, 160 framed and unframed oil paintings, about 200 plates of copper engravings, etchings, aquatints and dry engravings, about 60 plates of woodcuts, a portfolio of prints of about 130 copies, sculptures, and also valuable works by other artists were lost. In 1945, he returned to Poznań and became a lecturer of graphic sciences at the State Higher School of Fine Arts.

He got retired in 1950. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of artistic work, he received a touching gift - a graphic portfolio made by his students, dated June 28, 1952.

Karol Mondral passed away in Poznań on December 16, 1957. His remains rest together with his wife at the cemetery of Pyry, Warsaw, where his daughter Camilla brought them in 1983.

Exhibitions

In Paris, the painter could exhibit in solo at two occasions: in 1919 at the "Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts" and in 1921 at the seat of "L'Association France-Pologne". in 1923 and 1930 he had individual exhibitions in Warsaw, and in 1928 and 1947 in Poznań.

 : He was awarded at the 1st Graphic Competition. H. Grohman in Zakopane in 1911 ("Shoemaker", etching), and in the second edition of this competition in 1914 he received the second prize ("Zuzanna", etching). In Poland, he presented his graphics at the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (1903-39), the Polish Art Society (1931) and the Institute of Art Propaganda (1936), in Lviv (1913, 1916, 1926, 1928, 1930), Poznań (1925, 1927 , 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933), Zamość (1926), Bydgoszcz (1924, 1931, 1932, 1936), Łódź (1925), Toruń (1930), Kraków (1931) and Vilnius (1931).

In May 1979, the Polish Post issued a stamp commemorating Karol Mondral, with one of his aquaforte, "Portret żony z naparstnicami" (Template:Lang-en), inspired by Karol's wife.

• Karol Mondral 1881-1957", Bydgoszcz 2012
• Karol Mondral. Twórczość graficzna między Paryżem, Bydgoszczą a Poznaniem", Bydgoszcz, Poznan and Paris (Polish Library in Paris 23 octobre 2013 au 29 novembre 2013)

Works

Mondral mainly used metal techniques using etching, aquatint, drypoint and soft varnish; he used lithography and woodcut less often. He also made painting compositions influenced by Jacek Malczewski's symbolism, portraits, landscapes and still lifes with flowers. He practiced techniques in metal using etching, aquatint, drypoint and soft varnish; he used lithography and woodengraving less frequently, while living in Paris he dealt with color woodcuts. He created impressionistic landscapes, figural scenes and portraits. He regularly exhibited his works in the Warsaw Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pieknych, Polish Art Society and Institute of Art Propaganda, moreover he exhibited in Lviv, in Poznań, Zamość, Bydgoszczy, Łódź, Toruń, Kraków and Vilnius] .

Karol Mondral's prints decorated the tourist class cabins of of the ocean liner "Piłsudski", whose interiors were decorated in 1934 by a team of 78 Polish artists. In 1959, a posthumous exhibition was held in Poznań presenting a cross-section of the artist's work, 157 graphics from 1910-1938, 14 oil paintings from 1913-1953.

Nowadays, his works can be found in many museums collections: Stanisław Fischer Museum in Bochnia, 11 works from the National Museum in Warsaw, 15 graphics from the National Museum in Poznań, In addition, exhibits from the National Library in Warsaw, the Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław, the University Library in Warsaw, the University Library in Toruń, the Provincial and Municipal Library in Toruń Witold Bełza Public Library in Bydgoszcz, from the collection of in its own District Museum. Leon Wyczółkowski in Bydgoszcz, as well as private collections.

Aquaforte:

• Portret młodej kobiety, 1910
• Bazylika w Lourdes, 1912/1914
• St. Etienne du Mont Paryż 1912
• Śniadanie (Portret żony z córką, 1912)
• SOSNA, 1912
• Portret Stefana Stasiaka [Portret prof. S.S.], 1912
• Tragarz II [Woźnica z Prowansji], 1912
• Camilla przy piersi [Dziecko przy piersi], 1912
• Głowa dziecka (Portret córki, 1912)
• Zaprzęg prowansalski, 1912
• Portret mężczyzny, 1913
• Powrót z połowu. Portrieux, 1913
• Wyjazd na letnisko, 1913
• Mężczyzna nad brzegiem morza [Nad morzem], ok. 1913
• Dziewczynka w stroju bretońskim, 1914
• Tryptyk z Portrieux, ok. 1914
• Chęciny, 1914
• Scena w porcie, 1915
• Ruiny, 1915
• Brzeg Bałtyku w Karwi, 1920s
• Rodzina, 1920s
• Most nad Sekwaną, 1920
• Portret Konstantego Brandla 1921
• Głowa wieśniaka (Bretania), 1925
• Na targu, 1926
• Katedra w Gnieźnie 1927-1931 (made for the jubilee of the Archbishop of Gniezno)
• Kościółek w Siernieczku, 1928
• Portret rybaka 1927-1931
• Łan, 1930
• W Puszczykowie, po 1945

Woodcut:

• Pokłon pasterzy, 1917
• Archanioł Michał, 1919
• Profil górala

Paintings:

• WAWEL, 1903
• Bajka, 1909
• Dziewczynka, 1923
• WIEJSKA SIELANKA, 1945 R.

Membership

He belonged to Zwiazek Polskich Artystów Plastyki (Association of Polish Graphic Artists) and Plastyka group of artists from Wielkopolska (grupa artystów wielkopolskich „Plastyka”) artistic group Plastyka.

• Związek Polskich Artystów Grafików,
• Związek Plastyków Pomorskich w Bydgoszczy,
• Towarzystwo Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych

Family

Karol Mondral married to Romana Pogorzelska in 1907. They had a daughter, Camilla Mondral, and a son Stefan.

Camilla was born in Paris on June 30, 1911.She went to the "Bydgoszcz Catholic Humanities Gymnasium for girls" (Żeńskie Gimnazjum Humanistyczne), today's High School No. 6, Bydgoszcz. , a writer, an outstanding translator from Hungarian after the treacherous sale of valuable family heirlooms from the house by her only son Stefan-Kuba Pęksa

See also

• Bydgoszcz
• (in Polish) Camilla Mondral

Bibliography

• Woźniak, Michał (2013). Karol Mondral [Karol Mondral] (in Polish). Bydgoszcz: Muzeum Okręgowe im. Leona Wyczółkowskiego.
• Bazial, Jolanta (6 MAy 2013). Karol Mondral – życie i twórczość [Karol Mondral - Life and work] (in Polish). Bydgoszcz: Akant. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)