Edward Wittig
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and university professor, notable for designing many monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
s in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
Born in Warsaw, Wittig went on to study art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is an institution of higher education in Vienna, Austria.- History :The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy by the court-painter Peter Strudl, who became the Praefectus Academiae Nostrae. In 1701 he was ennobled as Baron of the Empire...
under the tutelage of J. Tautenheim between 1897 and 1900. He then moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
. His tutor there was Madeleine Jouvray, a pupil of Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
and Lucien Schnegg. One of his friends during this period was Magnus Enckell
Magnus Enckell
Magnus Knut Enckell was a Finnish painter.Enckell was born in Hamina, a small town in eastern Finland, the son of Carl Enkell, a priest, and Alexandra Enckell...
. In 1909 he returned to Poland and settled in Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
, in a residence owned by friends. There he prepared a number of sculptures, some of which were presented at the Paris Salon
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
. After 1903, he was invited to display his work at many top art galleries. His works were also featured at the Zachęta
Zacheta
The Zachęta National Gallery of Art, short Zachęta, , is one of Poland's most notable institutions for contemporary art. Situated in the centre of Warsaw, the main aim of the gallery is to present and support primarily Polish contemporary art and artists...
gallery in Warsaw (since 1900), at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, and the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
in 1920 and 1934.
Between 1915 and 1920, he was one of the professors of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and was subsequently a professor at the Warsaw University of Science and Technology. Initially a student of Rodin, in the early 1900s Wittig developed his own style, with stronger contrasts and less symbolism. Finally, prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
his style became heavily influenced by Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
and the so-called New Classicism, which emphasised monumental, cubic, and rough silhouettes lacking detail. Among the first such sculptures is Eve of 1911, featured in both Trocadéro
Trocadéro
The Trocadéro, , site of the Palais de Chaillot, , is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. The hill of the Trocadéro is the hill of Chaillot, a former village.- Origin of the name :...
garden in Paris and the Park Ujazdowski
Park Ujazdowski
Ujazdów Park is one of the most picturesque parks of Warsaw, Poland. It borders Aleje Ujazdowskie , with its many embassies and Sejm building.- History :...
in Warsaw.
In the 1920s Wittig's style became very popular in Poland and abroad, mostly due to its monumentalism, which was a leading trend in Polish architecture of 1920s and 1930s. As a result of which he went on to create numerous monuments. Among the most notable is the monuments to Polish Military Organization in front of the Zachęta It was destroyed by the Germans prior to the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
, but reconstructed in 1999. Another notable work is the 1931 monument to World War I airmen. The Germans destroyed it by removing the sculpture from the top of its pedestal in 1940, but was rebuilt in 1968 by Alfred Jesion. In 1932. Wittig also prepared the monument to Juliusz Słowacki, which was not erected until 2001, well after his death in Warsaw in 1941, during the Nazi occupation of Poland.