Tadeusz Makowski was born on January 29th, 1882 in Oświęcim in a family of railway clerk. At the age of 8 he starts to show some artistic skills. A desire of his parents for further education of their son makes them move to Cracow. In 1894 they open a cafe there, on the corner of Dominikańska and Grodzka streets, which becomes a main source of income for the family and financing Tadeusz' study at
St. Ann's Gymnasium. He is interested in humanities, literature and art.
In 1902 he gets admitted to the Faculty of Philosophy at The Jagiellonian University. In the 2nd year of his studies in parallel he starts education at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts. Cracow, which is a centre of art, art's movement and artistic ideas, draws 19 year old Tadeusz into its bohemian society. A literary cabaret Green Balloon hires Makowski for creating productions and designing puppets for nativity scenes. Professors Jan Stanislawski and Jozef Mehoffer have a big influence on his painting.
In 1908 Makowski graduates from the Academy of Fine Arts and leaves for Paris via Vienna and Munich. In 1913 he exhibits his cubist paintings at the Paris' Salon des Indépendants. The outbreak of the 1st World War forces Makowski to leave Paris. He goes to Bretagne, where he stays at Wladys;aw Slewinski's.
Nature is an inspiration for his further painting output. He visits Auvergne and Normandy.
After his return to Paris, he devotes himself to creative work. He sacrifices all his time for this purpose. He exhibits his paintings at the Berthe Weill's Gallery. The first individual exhibition of Makowski's paintings takes place in 1927. Some of the most important paintings are created in the last years before his death, these are: The Masquerade, The Jazz, The Shoemaker and The Miser.
He dies suddenly from a stroke in a hospital in Paris at the age of 50 on November 1st, 1932.
His death causes his friends to spontaneously establish the Tadeusz Makowski's Friends Society. The posthumous exhibition in 1933 and the exhibition on the 20th Biennale of Art in Venice in 1936 bring a huge success.
As Jozef Czapski wrote: "...he was absorbed in his own perceptions of the world, his own chamber poetry, which and for which he was seeking the expression until his death".
Timeline:
1882 - Tadeusz Makowski is born on January 29th in Oświecim, Poland
1894 - He starts his education at St. Ann's Gymnasium in Cracow
1902 - He joins the Faculty of Philosophy at The Jagiellonian University
1903 - In parallel he starts studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under J. Mehoffer and J. Stanislawski
1908 - He graduates from the Academy of Fine Arts with a silver medal distinction and leaves for Paris
1911 - He builds up a relationship with Le Fauconnier and a group of cubists from Montparnasse
1913 - He exhibits cubist paintings at the Paris Independent Salon and he starts keeping a diary
1923 - He becomes a part of an international painting group, amongst others with Marcel Gromaire
1925 - He illustrates Tytus Czyzewski's Pastorals with woodcuts
1927 - He paints Return from School and gives his first individual exhibition at the Berthe Weill's Gallery
1928 - His second exhibition at the Berthe Weill's Gallery is a success and determines his position in the society
1930 - He starts a cycle of paintings The Shoemaker, The Gunman, The Fisherman
1932 - Tadeusz Makowski dies from a stroke at the age of 50 in a hospital in Paris on November 1st. He is buried on Les Champeaux cemetery in Montmorency
1933 - A posthumous exhibition of his paintings at the Paris Salon des Indépendants
1936 - An exhibition at the 20th Biennale of Art in Venice is another success which he did not live to see
1939 - During the 2nd World War his paintings get deposited in a furniture warehouse in Paris
1954 - Makowski's paintings return to Poland
1960 - A big exhibition of Makowski's painting work
1961 - His Diaries from years 1912-1931 are published
2011 - His painting The Interior is sold at auction for 620,000 PLN
