Tytus Czyżewski

Who was Tytus Czyżewski?

Tytus Czyżewski was a Polish painter, art theoretician, Futurist poet, playwright, member of the Polish Formists, and Colorist.

In 1902 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the painting studios of Józef Mehoffer and Leon Wyczółkowski. Czyżewski travelled to Paris and learned from the artistic trends there. He began exhibiting in 1906. Czyżewski painting style was highly influenced by Cézanne and El Greco, whose work he admired until his death.

In 1917, with the brothers Zbigniew Pronaszko and Andrzej Pronaszko, he organized in Kraków an exhibition of Polish Expressionist works. The group later became known as the Polish Formists. Until the break-up of the Formists in 1922, he was the primary artist and theoretician behind the movement as well as the joint editor of the periodical Formiści. He was also co-founder of the Polish Futurist clubs, and published Futurist-inspired "visual poetry." Czyżewski brief flirted with Surrealism and spent the rest of his life as a Colorist.