These include:

Stanisław Wójtowicz, 26 matrices from 1950s – 1970s

Stanisław Wójtowicz is an outstanding artist and one of the most creative individuals in the art of the 1960s, a classic woodcut artist and one of the founders of the Krakow school of printmaking. Similarly to Jerzy Panek, he was an artist who appreciated the unique qualities of a print matrix, not only as a means of impressing prints on paper, but also as an autonomous work of art halfway between the traditionally understood matrix and bas-relief. The boards, purchased from the artist's family deposit in 2015, originate from the best period of the artist's work and are an excellent testament to the achievements of the Krakow circles. This acquisition enabled the completion of a representative set of Stanisław Wójtowicz's print matrices in the collections of the National Museum in Krakow. The acquired woodblocks are now part of the collection which has been accumulated by the Museum over the years.


Barbara Zbrożyna, 3 sculptures from the series Sarcophagi, 1973

Throughout her life, Barbara Zbrożyna created numerous head and bust portraits, which reflected her interest in the psyche of the model. She started with realistically modelled works, gradually moving to increasingly more allusive forms filled with expression and understatements. In the psychological layer, the artist was preoccupied with the nature of human existence, especially the phenomenon of transience and death. The fullest expression of this search can be found in her sculptural works forming cycles: Sunlit Figures, Mourning Figures, and above all Sarcophagi. The acquisition of pieces from this series, so important in the artist's work, is an important supplement to the selection of the sculptor's works in the collection of the National Museum in Krakow.

Lucjan Mianowski, a set of 14 colour linocuts from 1976–1980



Jarosław Modzelewski, Hölderlin's Head (with a plug), 1985

Hölderlin's Head (with a plug) is one of two works created after the artist's return from a scholarship in Germany. Modzelewski's fascination with the person of this German poet, regarded as one of the forerunners of Romanticism, translated into numerous works created in that period.
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin is the third historical figure who greatly inspired Modzelewski. The other two are Kazimierz Malewicz and Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski, to whom the artist dedicated a painting in the collection of the Museum. Hölderlin's Head is a perfect and significant supplement to the collection of Modzelewski's works and makes it representative. It is important to note that until now we have not had any works on paper by this artist in our Museum collections.


Zuzanna Janin, Fight + Ring, 2001; video/sculpture installation

The installation is on display in the Gallery of 20th-Century Polish Art in the Main Building of the NMK.
Zuzanna Janin's work was first presented in 2001 during her retrospective exhibition titled I Love You Too. The title of the exhibition comes from the project in which she faced a boxing champion – Przemysław Saleta in the ring. The project resulted in the installation called Fight + Ring, which can be described as a summary of the artist's work created in the 1990s, in which the feminist thread was extremely important for her.
No other Krakow cultural institution has any works by this artist in their collections. Janin's installation is now part of the NMK contemporary art collection, which for the last ten years has been regularly enriched with important examples from various fields of contemporary culture.


Ignacy Czwartos, That's the Work in the Village, 2013;

Ignacy Czwartos belongs to a group of artists who for many years have been associated with the Krakow Otwarta Pracownia [Open Studio] association, whose gallery is currently located in Dietla street. The artist is primarily known for his works in which he combines abstract themes modelled on Jerzy Nowosielski's paintings with figurative representations related to the local context. The artist, who labels himself “typically Polish”, is sometimes associated with Baroque painting and Sarmatian coffin portraits. Critics highlight Czwartos' inspiration with Nowosielski and Wróblewski's painting, though at the same time the artist follows his own artistic path. His specific sense of humor allows him to incorporate autobiographical themes into his work. Until now, the National Museum in Krakow has not had any works by Ignacy Czwartos in its collections.


The purchase of the works was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, grant amount: 150 587 pln.