Waliszewski Sigismund

Waliszewski (also Waliszewsky), Sigismund (Zygmunt) (born 1 December 1897, Saint Petersburg – died 1936, Warsaw) — Polish painter and graphic artist.

In 1903, the Waliszewski family moved to Batumi, and in 1905 to Tbilisi, where Waliszewski studied at the School of Sculpture and Painting of the Caucasian Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. In 1908, his solo exhibition, titled “The Wonderful Child”, was held in Tbilisi.

In 1919, he decorated the “Kimerioni” restaurant in Tbilisi (along with L. Gudiashvili, D. Kakabadze, and S. Sudeikin); the mural is now located in the building of the Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre. Waliszewski also participated in collecting N. Pirosmanashvili’s paintings.

From 1921, he lived in Poland, studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Between 1924 and 1931, he lived in France, and from 1931 onward again in Poland.

Waliszewski is considered one of the prominent representatives of modern Polish painting. His works are characterized by a sharp expression of character, occasional grotesqueness, precision of line, and a broad painterly manner.

Most of his paintings are held in the National Museums of Kraków, Poznań, and Warsaw.

Selected works: Mozart and Salieri (1917), The Island of Love (1935), Self-Portrait (1935) — all in the National Museum of Poland, Warsaw.

He also designed theatrical decorations on Old Tbilisi themes.

V. Beridze