Polish towns and castles according to R. Prauss

Polish towns and castles according to R. Prauss

On 13 February 2016, the National Museum in Kielce held the opening of the monographic exhibition of the artist, accompanied by the bilingual (in Polish and English) album and catalogue entitled "Polish towns and castles according to Ryszard Prauss". This publication comprises 42 towns, from Baranów Sandomierski to Ziębice, including numerous representations of known locations in the region, beginning with Kielce. A large part of the works are architectural fantasies of the artist, fairy castles as if from the Grimm Brothers' tales, to a great extent based on documented or preserved buildings. Overall, we intend to display 564 watercolour paintings in colour and drawings of towns and castles in many different versions. In doing so, we honor this talented, industrious and sincere artist, a distinguished citizen of Kielce and its region, whose dream, unfulfilled posthumously, was to issue a folder of colourful boards dedicated to his architectural visions, which – as Jan Aleksander Zaremba wrote in 1956 – contain his final pre-death thoughts and feelings about Poland and her people.

Ryszard Prauss (1902-1955) – a resident of Kielce and brother of the painter Stanisław (1902-1967), alumnus of the Śniadeckis' Middle School and Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (under the supervision of Miłosz and Jerzy Kotarbiński, Tadeusz Pruszkowski, Kazimierz Bartłomiejczyk and Jan Gardowski). Having completed his education, he settled in Kielce where he devoted himself to educational work, teaching drawing in Kielce secondary schools: the Jewish Middle School, during the occupation at the School of Economics and, from 1945, at the Voivodeship School of Artistic Handicrafts (today known as Józef Szermentowski's State Schools of Fine Arts). Accompanied by his brother, he actively participated in the artistic life of Kielce; he was an active member of the pre-war Świętokrzyskie Society of Art Enthusiasts and a co-founder of the branch of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers in Kielce (ZPAP).

Ryszard Prauss was a traditional painter and drawer specialising in works created with watercolours, pencil and crayon, rarely charcoal. His favourite topics was mainly Poland’s reconstructed architecture, comparable to the already classic compositions by Stanisław Noakowski, and scenes from Polish history, many depicting World War II, sometimes landscapes.

The list of towns and locations Ryszard Prauss celebrated in his works: Baranów Sandomierski, Brochów, Brzeg, Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Chęciny, Chojnik, Czersk, Czorsztyn, Drzewica, Gdańsk, Grodków, Jelenia Góra, Kazimierz Dolny, Kielce, Koło, Koszalin, Kraków, Lublin, Łagów, Mirów, Niedzica, Nowy Wiśnicz, Ogrodzieniec, Olsztyn, Opole, Otmuchów, Paczków, Pińczów, Rabsztyn, Reszel, Sandomierz, Stargard Szczeciński, Staszów, Szczecin, Szydłowiec, Szydłów, Świdwin, Tarnów, Toruń, Warszawa, Wrocław, Ziębice.

The exhibition will be held from 13 February to 22 May 2016 in the Former Palace of Cracow Bishops, branch of the National Museum in Kielce.

Curator: Iwona Rajkowska

Coordinator: Artur Rakowski

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