The exposition presents paintings, sculptures, handicrafts and examples of historic furniture from the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century
It is located within two rooms with an exceptionally artistic atmosphere emphasised by typical renaissance barrel vaults with lunettes. The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first of them presents art monuments from Krosno and its surroundings from the mid-19th century to the 1930s. The objects collected here are the most valuable heritage among the preserved remembrance of the artistic life of the Krosno region. The paintings presented here are the works of art of the prominent artists associated with the region including Matejko’s alumni who studied in the Cracovian School of Fine Arts as well as foreign academies: Seweryn Bieszczad (1852-1923) – the prominent watercolourist named “the Canaletto from Krosno”, Stanisław Bergman (1862-1930) – the resident of Krosno and the enthusiast of history painting, Franciszek Daniszewski (1858-1922) – the founder of the artistic-painting and photographic institution “Artistry” in Krosno and the artistic group with the same name and Aleksander Augustynowicz (1865-1944) who created the generic paintings. In this part of the exposition, there are also presented paintings of Kazimierz Olpiński (1876-1936) who created landscapes, mainly of Podolia, the Beskid Mountains and the territory of Huculszczyzna.
It is necessary to emphasise the important role of the creative environment from Krosno and its surroundings in the middle of the 20th century. In 1945 in Krosno there was established the Professional Association of Visual Artists and it was the first one in post-war Poland. It came into being from the initiative of the painter Zdzisław Truskolaski who organized the first after war exhibition of paintings (March 1945) and so-called “Spring salon” (June 1945).
Furthermore, he started to issue a periodical “Art and life”, he established the art School here, but above all, he promoted the approximation of art by organizing the exhibitions available for the wide audience and encouraging the artists to work actively in their art and the society. Paintings by the following artists are presented here: Bronisław Olszewski (1874-1959) who was the master of portrait and the teacher of drawing in the Real school in Krosno, Zdzisław Truskolaski (1899-1949), Stanisław Kochanek (1905-1995) – the remarkable painter, sculptor, scenographer and caricaturist, Władysław Niepokój (1905-1985) the propagator of realistic painting, Jan Ekiert (1907-1993) working on French soil who painted a lot, creating the compositions ideally combining refined colour, proportions and sensitive observation of nature and Jan Jankiewicz (1911-1987), the excellent landscapist. The work of sculptors also deserves a separate mention.
These are Andrzej Lenik (1864-1929) who led his artistic and sculpting studio in Krosno that specialized in sacral art and sculpture and Władysław Kandefer – representing the realistic trend, who created wood carvings, metalwork and medallion making. The permanent art exposition prepared by the Art Department has undoubtedly high educational-artistic value. Its intentional goal is to show the advantages of the exhibits on display as well as to inform and evoke historic facts about evolving art in the Krosno background.
