The Lublin Colourist

Abstract

Jan Karmański, Zenon Kononowicz and Władysław Filipiak – these three painters are connected with Lublin and the Lublin region. Despite that they differed in almost everything, starting from their dates and places of birth, through descent and education, to creative temper, yet they all three equally loved colour. It is colour that decided about the character and appearance of their landscapes, portraits, nudes or still lifes; and colour determined particular creative attitudes, or even way of life.

All three were fascinated with Kazimierz Dolny and left many paintings depicting the atmosphere and climate of this unique town. They were able to create agroup of well-known plastic signs, which permitted to identify their painting easily. It was that kind of painting which apparently stood out from the achievements of the other Lublin painters. And although the fortunes of the artists had run different courses: Karmański and Kononowicz had for many years lived in poverty, and only Filipiak could provide himself a proper standard of life through his painting; nevertheless, all of them equally deserve to be remembered. The more so, if we consider the fact that over sixty years ago it was them who contributed to the consolidation of the milieu (ZPAP was set up in Lublin) and made open to others.