The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (, usually abbreviated to ASP), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Polish fine art academy, established in 1818 and granted full autonomy in 1873.
ASP is a state-run university that offers 5- and 6-year Master's degree programmes. As of 2007, the Academy's faculty comprised 94 professors and assistant professors as well as 147 Ph.D.s.
The Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) was originally a subdivision of the Jagiellonian University's Department of Literature and was initially (1818âÂÂ1873) called the School of Drawing and Painting (Szkoà Âa Rysunku i Malarstwa). Among its original teachers were Polish Neoclassicist Antoni Brodowski, and Franciszek Ksawery Lampi, a world-renowned landscape and portrait artist in Congress Poland whose most notable students there were Wojciech Korneli Stattler (a teacher of Jan Matejko) and Piotr Michaà Âowski, equestrian master artist of the Romantic period.
ASP received the status of an independent institution of higher learning in 1873 as the School of Fine Arts (Szkoà Âa Sztuk PiÃÂknych). The first President of the Academy was painter Jan Matejko, who brought in other leading artists as professors including Jan Nepomucen Gà Âowacki, the most outstanding landscape painter of the early 19th century in Poland, as well as Florian Cynk, Aleksander Gryglewski and Leopold Loeffler, member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. The main building based on a neoclassical design by architect Maciej Moraczewski was erected in today's Matejko Square in 1879. In 1893âÂÂ95 its principal was a broadly educated Wà Âadysà Âaw à Âuszczkiewicz (another teacher of Jan Matejko and later, his close associate) who also served as conservator of architectural monuments in the city.
Following the death of Jan Matejko in 1893, the next ASP President elected in 1895 was Julian Faà Âat, who remained at his post until 1909. Faà Âat gave the Academy a new direction by hiring new art instructors associated with contemporary Western art approaches and associated painters such as Teodor Axentowicz, Jacek Malczewski (the father of Polish Symbolism), Jan Stanisà Âawski, Leon Wyczóà Âkowski, Konstanty Laszczka, Józef Mehoffer, Stanisà Âaw Wyspiaà Âski (one of first in Europe to work in all genres), Wojciech Weiss, and Józef Pankiewicz among others.
The first woman admitted to study at the Academy was Zofia Baltarowicz-Dzielià Âska, who, in 1917, gained a status of an auditor. Officially, women were allowed to become students over a year later, after the academy passed a resolution in December 1918.
On the 100th anniversary of its founding, in 1979, the Academy was named for Jan Matejko, its founder and first president.
In 2008 the Academy joined Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations) and became that organization's first educational member in Poland.
The School of Fine Arts (director)
The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (rector)