In Artist’s Atelier. Studios of Łódź Painters 1890–1939

The artist’s studio was an important part of the creative process in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The article is an attempt to present the current status of research into artists’ studios in Łódź that for various reasons have not yet been a spectrum of interest in the scientific community. In Łódź of the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, studio-atelier is for an artist not just a “place to create” and “territory of life” (it had in fact mainly residential functions), a field for spiritual struggle, but also an exhibition and trade showroom. In many studios artists involved in teaching activities had art schools. Despite various difficulties to which representatives of the local artistic circles were exposed, in their ateliers, as if in defiance of reality, they created paintings and sculptures, designs of polychrome, posters, typography and book covers, theatrical scenery, as well as popular in this period arrangements of exhibitions and carnival celebrations that allowed the “Apelles Colony” to survive. The article, based on archival material and scientific research conducted by the author, evokes the atmosphere and realities of the studios of Łódź leading artists: Abraham Adolf Behrman, Maurycy Trębacz, Samuel Hirszenberg, Kazimiera Wiśniewska-Szczygielska, Alicja Nowińska, Eustachy Pietkiewicz, Ryszard Radwański, Stanisław Czarnowski, Oscar Edwin Adalbert Mayer-Elbing, Adam Strzeżymir Pruszyński, Karol Ende, Ary Sperski, Konstanty Mackiewicz, Franciszek Walczowski and others.