Everything about Eligiusz Niewiadomski totally explained
Eligiusz Niewiadomski (
Warsaw,
December 1,
1869 –
January 31,
1923,
Warsaw) was a
Polish modernist painter and
art critic who belonged to the
right-wing National Democracy till 1904 and later supported it. He is infamous for his 1922
assassination of
Poland's first President,
Gabriel Narutowicz.
Life
Niewiadomski was born into a family of distant
gentry descent. His father, Wincenty Niewiadomski, of
Prus coat-of-arms, was a
veteran of the
January Uprising and a worker at the Warsaw
mint. At the age of two, Eligiusz lost his mother Julia, and was raised by his elder sister Cecylia. After graduating from a local trade school in
1888, Niewiadomski moved to
St. Petersburg, where he continued his studies at the
Imperial Academy of Arts. He graduated in
1894, with honors, and won a scholarship to École Supérieure des Beaux-arts in
Paris. After his return to Warsaw he became a student of
Wojciech Gerson, one of the best known Polish artists of the epoch.
After 1897, he taught drawing at the
Warsaw University of Technology. He also collaborated with a number of
Warsaw-based magazines and newspapers as a journalist and
art critic, which gave him considerable notoriety, mostly among the artists themselves. He became involved in various artistic movements, among them the "re-discovery" of the
Tatra Mountains, which at the time attracted some of the most renown Polish painters, poets and writers as a source of inspiration. During that time Niewiadomski prepared and published a map of the Tatras, one of the first tourist maps of the area. He also prepared a set of historical maps of Poland
Album of the History of Poland (
1899). He also became involved in the reorganisation of the
Zachęta art society. Using the contacts acquired there, he promoted the idea of creation of a separate Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. However, when the school was finally opened in
1903, Niewiadomski wasn't invited to teach there.
Politically, Niewiadomski was a strong supporter of
nationalism, particularly the National League. In 1901, he was arrested by the tsarist police for
smuggling in nationalist
propaganda booklets from
Galicia to the
Vistulan Country. Although he was released after several months in the
Pawiak prison, he lost his job at the University of Technology and fell into an impoverished state. This further radicalized his political beliefs. During the
Russo-Japanese War he promoted the idea of perpetrating anti-Russian
sabotage, for which he was excluded from the National League.
In order to make his living, Niewiadomski started to teach art classes at numerous schools and churches in Poland. He also prepared the frescos in St. Bartholomew's church in
Konin. However, his two volume monograph,
On Mediaeval Art, sold poorly and Niewiadomski was on the verge of being forgotten by his contemporaries.
After the outbreak of
World War I he remained in Warsaw, where he started publishing a number of
brochures and
manifestos, describing his views on the role of art. He also continued to teach art history and artistic technique at various schools. On
March 1,
1918, he was appointed the director of painting and sculpture at the Ministry of Culture of the
Regency Council, a post that was previously offered to numerous artists who refused.
After Poland regained its independence, Niewiadomski joined the Ministry of Culture of the newly-reborn country. During the
Polish-Bolshevik War, in
1920 he tried to join the
Polish Army, but was refused due to old age. However, he was accepted by the
Polish intelligence and served as a translator of Russian documents. During the last months of the war he finally managed to convince his superiors to move him to
front line service and he fought in the 5th
Legions Infantry Regiment.
Demobilised in
1921, Niewiadomski returned to the Ministry and continued his work there as a clerk. However, on
November 8 1921, after
Antoni Ponikowski's government refused to grant Niewiadomski's department a higher budget, he resigned his post. Niewiadomski then devoted himself to writing and prepared several monographies on the Polish painting of 19th and 20th centuries, as well as on the theory of art. He made his living illustrating various books.
Assassination of Narutowicz
On
December 9 1922,
Gabriel Narutowicz was elected by the National Assembly as the first President of Poland. After a heated debate, Narutowicz's candidacy managed to gather 289 votes, including 113 votes of various national minority MPs. The defeated candidate of the
National Democratic Party Maurycy Zamoyski gathered 227 votes, yet the National Democrats decided to boycott the President and announced that he was elected by the
Reds, Jews and Germans rather than Poles. This started a period of civil unrest in Warsaw, where the supporters of nationalist ideas protested against the election of
their president.
On
December 16 1922 the newly-elected President attended an opening of an art exhibition at the
Zachęta Art Gallery. Niewiadomski, a frequent guest at such festivities, approached Narutowicz and shot him. Arrested on
December 30 he was sentenced to death by
firing squad, which was carried out in the
Citadel of Warsaw on
January 31 1923. He was 53 years old. His body was interred at the
Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
After his execution, Niewiadomski remained a largely controversial figure. His funeral was attended by 10,000 people and he was depicted by some right-wing journalists as a national hero and a martyr.
Footnotes
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