Certificate of Juliusz Pol

Juliusz Pol was born in Warsaw in 1878 as the son of Marek Stanisław Pol and Maria née Zienkowicz, grandson of Wincenty, a poet, and stepbrother of Idalia and Jerzy.

In the first half of the 1890s he went to Munich to study painting. In 1896, he arrived in Kraków to continue his studies at the local School of Fine Arts (renamed the Academy in 1900). In 1897-1901 he studied drawing there, first under Józef Unierzyski (1863-1948) and in his final year under Józef Mehoffer (1869-1946) and studied painting under Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936). At the same time, through his acquaintance in the studio of Kazimierz Sichulski (1879-1942), he started to enter the artistic world of the Kraków bohemia, associating himself with the environment of the Zielony Balonik [Green Balloon], a literary cabaret established in 1905 by Kraków poets, writers and artists in the confectionery of Apolli Michalik, known as the Michalikowa Jama. The development of Juliusz Pol's work was also influenced by Jan Stanisławski (1860-1907), an excellent teacher of the Kraków school who was well liked by all the students.

The certificate shows a high mark for the classes in the drawing department attended by Juliusz Pol in the second semester of the academic year 1900/1901: ‘very good progress, exemplary diligence’. We also learn from the document that he was awarded four times for his compositional works and their painting. The then-director of the Academy, Julian Fałat (1853-1929), who signed the certificate, somewhat later gave Pol a very flattering opinion, stating that he was ‘a very talented student, whose artistic career looks extremely promising’. However, it did not come true. When the artist left the academy, his inspiration began to fade as well. For several years he worked as a drawing teacher in various places and schools. Being in poor health, he died prematurely, having lived barely 43 years, and was forgotten.