Artysta i jego matka

Pamiętnik… Adelajdy Wiwulskiej jako świadectwo epoki

Abstract

KRZYSZTOF STEFANSKI (University of Lodz) / The artist and his mother. Adelajda Wiwulska’s Pamietnik… as a testimony of the era
Architect and sculptor Antoni Wiwulski (1877–1919) is one of the most interesting figures in Polish artistic life of the early 20th century. His mother, Adelajda Wiwulska, née Karpuszko (1857–1945), played an important role in his life. Antoni, who never married and did not start a family of his own, remained under her considerable influence throughout his life. Adelajda Wiwulska was a strong personality, with a firm character, very religious and having close contacts with church circles. In her youth she showed a penchant for music. She married when she was only 18; when she was widowed, she was 26. A valuable document introducing her life and personality, but also the customs of the era, is Pamiętnik… (Memoir…), left by her, written in 1930–1932 and left in manuscript. It contains information about the Karpuszko and Wiwulski families, shows the fate of Adelajda, and the last part focuses on the person of her son, Antoni. The most interesting passages, however, are the earlier ones, depicting the customs of the moderately wealthy Lithuanian nobility in the 19th c., as well as shedding light on the position of a young woman in those days – on the nature of education and issues related to marriage. The dramatic events of the January Uprising and post-Uprising repressions constitute an important theme as well.