Stanislaw (Spokesman) Rzecki - Szreniawa (1888-1972), Bronislava Jeremi as the claw of Portia in Shakespeare's play 'The Merchant of Venice', (from Melpomene's portfolio),1904

autolithography, paper, 44 x 35 cm (composition); 50 x 38 cm (size of original cardboard backing from the period; signed on stone p. d. bound monogram "KF" and title in author's hand p.g. "From the Marriage of Figaro"

The social and artistic life of Krakow at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries developed intensely, concentrating both in salons and at the tables of fashionable cafes. Kazimierz Sichulski, along with Karol Frycz, Stanislaw Kuczborski, Stanislaw Rzecki and Wojciech Wojtkiewicz, joined the group of Lviv mockers who, at the café table of Jan Apolini Michalik's Lviv Pastry Shop, came up with the idea of preparing a lithographic portfolio of caricatures of actresses and actors in the roles of plays being performed at the time - "The Wedding." "Eros and Psyche," "The Children of Vanyanshin," "The Neighbors' Sisters," "The Marriage of Figaro," "Kosciuszko at Raclawice," "Anastasia," "The Merchant of Venice," "The Half-Girlfriends" and "The Maiden Vows." And so, under Rzecki's guidance, the famous "Teka Melpomeny" was born in 1904, printed free of charge by Zenon Pruszyński at his Artistic Lithography Works, a friend of artists and a faithful ally in their play. The "Portfolio" included 38 autolithographs designed by prominent artists of the Young Poland period.
"In a distorted mirror of caricature and joke, in fluent drawing and in flat splashes of color and black, sometimes against a background starry with paint dusting - we observe the heads and figures of actresses, actors and collective scenes, including an enchanted dance by Chooch."
Popular and favorite actors include: Jadwiga Mrozowska, Helena Sulima, Stanisława Wysocka, Jerzy and Bolesław Leszczyński, Marian Jednowski, Michał Przybyłowicz, Aleksander Zelwerowicz. "Teka Melpomeny" entertained, a little inferior, but it was very popular, and its fame has survived to this day. The lithographs from this portfolio were exhibited in 1905 at the Krywult Salon in Warsaw; many of them stuck in the portfolios of collectors, others adorned the walls of salons and rooms of lovers of graphics, Art Nouveau, theater, and fun. They also adorned the walls of the Lvivska Cukiernia Lwowska, where the idea of a portfolio was born and where the artistic cabaret Zielony Balonik (Green Balloon) was established in 1905, and the confectionery began to be called the Michalik's Den," which still operates today.

Aureliusz Pruszyński (1847 Kasinka Mała Powi. Limanowa - 1904 Kraków) was a Kraków lithographer, owner of the esteemed Aureliusz Pruszyński Artistic Lithography Establishment in Kraków founded in 1873 at 17 Pijarska Street, from ca 1902 the owner of the establishment was his son Zenon Pruszyński (see SAP vol. 8 pp. 92-93). In the factory of A. Pruszyński since the end of the 19th century, the leading artists of Cracow reflected their graphic works in lithography (including posters), including the famous "Teka Melpomena".

Autolithography - a lithograph drawn by the author-artist directly on the lithographic stone.

Lit.:M. Grońska, Grafika w książce, tece i albumie, Wroclaw 1994, item 7.; Katalog zbiorów Gabinetetu Grafiki", vol. 1: "Polish Graphic Arts 1901-1939," Wrocław 1983, cat. 691, p. 208.