Mieczysław Janikowski (1912–1968)
By the Sea, 1930s
charcoal on paper, 48 x 55 cm
signed lower right: MTJ
Condition: discoloration of the paper
He was born in Zaleszczyki, in the Eastern Borderlands, on February 13, 1912. He spent his early youth in Olkusz. Following in the footsteps of his older brother Stanisław, he began his studies at the Faculty of Law of Jagiellonian University, but after a year he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where, under the guidance of Prof. Jarocki, Sichulski, and Filipkiewicz, he graduated a few weeks before the outbreak of World War II. As a second lieutenant in the 22nd Podkarpackie Uhlan Regiment, he fought until October 1, 1939. He then fled to Hungary, in violation of the surrender agreement signed by his command with the Soviet forces. Most of his comrades-in-arms perished during the liquidation of the camps in Starobelsk and Kozelsk. Four years later, as commander of an armored vehicle in General Maczek’s 1st Division, he took part in the liberation of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Seriously wounded in the Battle of Alphen, he spent the next few years in Scotland, where he graduated from the College of Art in Edinburgh. He received a scholarship and, in September 1947, left for Paris. There, after a one-year stay in London, he settled permanently in 1952. Thanks to the hospitality of the avant-garde painter Stanisław Grabowski, he took up residence in the famous “Ule” (or “La Ruche”) at 2, passage de Dantzig. Starting in 1962, he visited Kraków several times, where he died unexpectedly on December 14, 1968.
During his lifetime, Mieczysław Janikowski had only three solo exhibitions, one of which was held at Krzysztofory in Kraków. After his death, there were several dozen. Janikowski’s interest in abstract painting, including Constructivist compositions, emerged in the late 1940s. When asked by his friend Józef Czapski about the reason for this evolution, he reportedly replied: “A straight line set against a curved line is already a drama—so why paint anything more?” In Poland, Mieczysław Janikowski’s works are part of the collections of the National Museum in Kraków, Warsaw, Gdańsk, and Poznań, the Museum of Art in Łódź, the Regional Museums in Bydgoszcz, Bytom, and Radom, the Museum of Central Pomerania in Słupsk, the Museum of Architecture in Wrocław, the Museum in Chełm, and the Historical Museum in Sanok.
