About Stanisław Wyspiański: ‘a kind of Polish William Morris, to whom no form of art came amiss’
Panel discussion with Dr Alison Smith, Co-Curator of Stanisław Wyspiański: Portraits (National Portrait Gallery), and Co-Curators of Young Poland (William Morris Gallery), Roisin Inglesby and Dr Julia Griffin, moderated by Dr Olga Topol, Curator, Slavonic and East European Collections, British Library.
Around the time of his death, the British press compared Wyspiański to design reformer William Morris. A true polymath, Wyspiański was an artist, designer, interior decorator, craftsman, and national bard who worked across many disciplines. In literature, he wrote and directed plays, designing their sets and costumes. He created stained-glass windows, furniture, textiles, wall paintings, and book layouts. He was also a skilled portraitist and landscape artist, sculptor, architect, and urban planner.
Wyspiański’s wide-ranging knowledge extended to classical studies, art history, botany, and medieval architecture. He also served as a city councillor, reformer, and teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. As a co-founder of the ‘Sztuka’ (Art) Society of Polish Artists and the Polish Applied Arts Society, he played a key role in shaping Polish visual arts during a critical period in the country’s history.
This discussion will explore Wyspiański’s extraordinary life and achievements, while revealing unexpected parallels with William Morris – particularly in their shared ideal of the Book Beautiful and in their belief in the unification of art, craft, and social purpose.
This event coincides with the National Portrait Gallery’s current exhibition Stanisław Wyspiański: Portraits (co-curated by Dr Alison Smith, Director of Collections and Research at the Wallace Collection, and Professor Andrzej Szczerski, Director of the National Museum in Kraków). The display, co-organised by the NPG, the National Museum in Kraków and Polish Cultural Institute, co-finance by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, runs until 13 July 2025 in Room 14, Floor 3. Admission is free.
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About the speakers
Dr Alison Smith is Director of Collections and Research at the Wallace Collection, London, and formerly Chief Curator at the National Portrait Gallery. She is co-curator and editor of Stanisław Wyspiański: Portraits (National Portrait Gallery, 2025). Previously published works include: Edward Burne-Jones (Tate Publishing, 2018), Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites (Yale University Press, 2017), Symbolist Art in Poland (Tate Publishing, 2009).
Dr Julia Griffin is an art historian and curator with a dual research specialism in British and Polish art. She is co-editor of Stanisław Wyspiański: Portraits (National Portrait Gallery, 2025). She co-curated and co-edited Young Poland:The Polish Arts and Crafts Movement, 1890–1918 (Lund Humphries, 2020; William Morris Gallery 2021-2022). She has held curatorial appointments at the Guildhall Art Gallery and Watts Gallery, and completed her PhD in Rossetti, Morris and Kelmscott.
Roisin Inglesby is Curator at the William Morris Gallery. She co-curated Young Poland: The Polish Arts and Crafts Movement, 1890–1918 (William Morris Gallery 2021-2022). She was previously Assistant Curator of Designs at the V&A, Curator of Architectural Drawings for Historic Royal Palaces and Curatorial Assistant at Tokyo Teien Metropolitan Art Museum. Her work focuses on Morris’s international connections, with exhibitions including Pioneers: William Morris and the Bauhaus (2019) and Mingei: Art Without Heroes (Yale University Press, 2024).
Attending your event
This is an in-person only event in the British Library Knowledge Centre. Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event. If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk
Concessions
There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, half-price tickets for students and under 26s, free entry for carers as well as a number of other concessions.
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