1848 -1921 · Rome, Kyiv and visionary symbolism

Ghosts, ancient processions and biblical visions make Wilhelm Kotarbiÿski a singular conduit between academicism, monumental decor and symbolism.

Wilhelm Kotarbiÿski was born in 1848 in Nieborów, Poland, and died in Kyiv in 1921. Trained in Warsaw and then at the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome, he acquired a solid mastery of drawing, anatomy and great composition. His long Italian stay nourished an imagination of ruins, processions, draped women and ancient myths. In the 1880s, he joined Kyiv, where he spent most of his career and became a major figure in Polish-Ukrainian artistic life. From 1880, he joined Kyiv, where he spent most of his career and became a major figure in Polish-Ukrainian artistic life. From 1886 to 1896, he participated with Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov, Pavel Svedomski and other artists in the vast setting of Saint Volodymyr Cathedral. From 1886 to 1896, he participated with Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov, Pavel Svedomski and other artists in the vast setting of Saint Volodymyr Cathedral. From 1886 to 1896, he joined Kyiv, where he spent most of his career and became a major figure in Polish-Ukrainian artistic life. In the 1880s, he joined Kyiv, where he spent most of his career and became a major figure in Polish-Ukrainian artistic eighty-four separate figures, adapting his academic culture to the monumental scale and Orthodox liturgy. He also paints ceilings and panels for the Tereshchenko and Khanenko residences. At the same time, his easel paintings explore a more mysterious vein. Sphinx and a ghost woman, Tomb of a suicide where the elegant Roman women place silent figures in unreal architecture, nocturnal gardens or post-disaster landscapes. The precise contours and pearly flesh create silent figures in unreal architecture, nocturnal gardens or post-disaster landscapes. The precise contours and pearly flesh meet a dreamlike atmosphere close to European symbolism. The Three Marys at the Tomb and The Resurrection of the Son of Nain's Widow show his taste for the suspended moment when pain shifts towards revelation. Member of the Imperial Academy of Saint Petersburg and co-founder of the Society of Kyiv Artists, Kotarbiÿski thus unites monumental knowledge, religious narrative and fin-de-siecle imagination. The "Wilhelm Kotarbiÿski" selection notably compares Sphinx and a Ghost Woman and The Three Marys at the Tomb. His reading favors composition.

Kotarbiÿski places the story on the threshold of the visible: ancient architecture, immobile figure and supernatural light transform the story into vision.