Feliks Manggha Jasieński, un collectionneur polonais au tournant du siècle

Abstract

Feliks Manggha Jasieński, a Polish collector at the turn of the century. Feliks Jasieński (1861-1921) was first of all a great traveller. He was well acquainted with the literary, musical and artistic circles of Berlin and Paris, where he stayed during the 1880s. He returned to Poland in 1890, settling in Cracow in 1902. It was there that he installed his museum-residence, constantly enriched with purchases of works of art from Europe and Japan. His collections were extensive and significant, covering several fields : contemporary western engravings, ukiyo-é, paintings by young Polish artists (the Zacopane school in particular), popular Polish art, rare books, etc. Jasieński was also a leading member of artistic associations in Poland helping young artists, running a review, giving lectures and publishing articles. As well as a collector, he was also a promoter of new Polish engraving ; he also played a major part in reviving interest in the popular culture of Poland. Finally, his collection of Japanese prints was one of the largest in the world. After some twenty years of difficult negotiations, he bequeathed his whole collection to the city of Cracow in 1920, stipulating that this collection should never be broken up but presented as an ensemble. This wish was not respected, and even today the origin of works exhibited in the Cracow Museum and coming from Jasieński’s collection is not mentioned. An inventory of his collection has still to be made, and there is no monographic study of the collector himself. Let us hope that such a study will soon be undertaken, and that it will help present to the public the collection of one of the principal donators to Poland’s museums.