Jan Rembowski
Polish Symbolist and Art Nouveau artist
Jan Rembowski was a Polish Symbolist painter, pastelist and sculptor. He was also associated with Art Nouveau. His father was a landlord and had been a participant in the January Uprising. He took his first drawing lessons from Wojciech Gerson, then studied sculpture at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts with Konstanty Laszczka. In 1905, he married a French woman, who was there teaching the language, and had two daughters; one of whom, Hanna Rembowska [pl], became an illustrator. From 1905 to 1907, he studied painting with Józef Mehoffer. During that time, he helped found the "Group of Five" (or "Group Norwid", after Cyprian Norwid) with Leopold Gottlieb, Wlastimil Hofman, Mieczysław Jakimowicz [pl] and Witold Wojtkiewicz. The group promoted the idea of a connection between literature, music and the visual arts. He also helped create a group called "Sztuka Podhalańska" in Zakopane, where he often went for his health (he was suffering from tuberculosis). Despite this, he served in the Polish Legions during World War I. As his health worsened, he had to give up sculpture, as it required too much effort. In addition to paintings, he created interior designs; notably at the sanatorium operated by Dr. Kazimierz Dłuski (1910). He also wrote essays on the folk culture of Podhale and did illustrations for the first edition of a popular alphabet book by Marian Falski [pl]. He exhibited frequently and widely until 1920. Much of his work was destroyed during World War II.
Relationship Network
Master student
- Wojciech Gerson Master
- Józef Mehoffer Master
Fellow student
Friend
Artworks by this artist (97 total)
- Symbolic composition 1909
- Highlander
- Bust of a mountaineer girl 1909
- Mountaineer with a pipe 1913
- Landscape with a shrine
- Mountaineer sitting on a rock 1910
- Nude young man half-length, with outstretched arms 1905
- Św. Jan Nepomucen, wg malowidła na szkle z Podhala 1912
- Peasant from Riebiņi 1903
- Sketches for the composition “Over the fields”, on both sides
- Symbolic composition with a lirnyk and a figure holding his head
- Nude woman turned back after 1900
- Portrait of the artist’s wife in a room 1911
- Portrait of a man 1905
- Bookplate of Bolesława Łozowa
- Girl from the Highlands 1912
- Portrait of Alina Glass née Bondy 1900s
- Invalid – veteran 1917
- Artist’s self-portrait 1909
- Portrait of an old man