THE POET OF ART – JANUSZ WAŁEK

On the 8th of July 2018 died Janusz Wałek, arthistorian, museologist, pedagogue, born in 1941 in Bobowa.He graduated from the Jagiellonian University, the history ofart faculty. In 1968, he started working in the Czartoryskis’Museum – Branch of the National Museum in Krakow, wheresome time after he became a head of the European PaintingDepartment for many years. He was a lecturer at the FineArts Academy, the National Academy of Theatre Arts andthe Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He wrote two booksand numerous articles about art. He was also a poet, thewinner of the Main Prize in the 1997 edition of the GeneralPolish Poetry Competition.He was a student of Marek Rostworowski, they workedtogether on a number of publicly acclaimed exhibitions:“Romanticism and Romanticity in Polish Art of the 19th and20th centuries”, “The Poles’ Own Portrait”, “Jews – Polish”.Many exhibitions and artistic shows were prepared by himalone, inter alia “The Vast Theatre of Stanisław Wyspiański”,presentations of artworks by great artists: Goya, Rafael,Titian, El Greco. He also created a few scenarios of permanentexhibitions from the Czartoryskis’ Collection – inKrakow and in Niepołomice – being a great expert on thiscollection. “Europeum” – European Culture Centre was organisedaccording to the programme written by him. Hespecialised mostly, although not exclusively, in art and cultureof the Renaissance.Janusz Wałek is presented herein as a museologist whowas fully devoted to art, characterised by: creativity, broadperception of art and culture, unconventional approach tomuseum undertakings, unusual sensitivity and imagination.What the author of the article found worth emphasisingis that J. Wałek talked and wrote about art not only asa scholar, but first of all as a poet, with beauty and zest ofthe language he used.