Many of you are probably wondering what a work of art has to do with the Aviation Museum. Why did a technical museum acquire a painting? After all, there are many art-oriented museums in Poland where a painting would fit the collected works. The answer to all these questions is complex and requires some reflection.
Artistic souls draw inspiration from many fields of life and science. The most prominent example is Leonardo da Vinci, who was fluent in botanical, zoological, architectural and also technical matters. He designed many flying machines. Another example of an artist with a passion for technology, this time from our native lands, is Jan Wnęk. A sculptor who, on 19 May 1866, from the church tower in Odporyszów, reportedly made his demonstration flight. Four years before Wnęk’s flight, in the village of Pieczyska, Czesław Tański was born.
Czesław Tański, a painter, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, a student of Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kamiński, and a scholarship holder at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. He painted mainly battle scenes, genre scenes and horse racing scenes. However, the artist’s main passion became aviation. He built successful rubber-powered flying models and, having heard news of Otto Lilienthal’s experiments, in 1895 he built his own glider, which he named Lotnia (Hang Glider). In 1909, he designed a monoplane called Łątka (Dragonfly), and subsequently began its construction in the hangars of the Warsaw Aviation Society Aviata. The aircraft had a three-cylinder engine producing 25 HP, flexible, twistable wingtips and horizontal tail surfaces that served as control surfaces. It was completed in 1911, but due to excessive weight and a weak engine, it did not leave the ground.
Hansom Cabs (1903), a watercolour on paper, shows in the foreground a hansom cab drawn by a single bay horse. A strong compositional focal point is the coachman in blue attire, sitting on the box seat at the centre of the painting. In the background, more cabs, trees and a street lamp are visible. Tański, despite his interest in new technologies and innovative designs, remained relatively conservative and straightforward in his painting, although he was active in a period when movements of the modern avant-garde were being born. Hansom Cabs is a painting representative of his work, both in terms of subject matter and style. The horses are painted with exceptional skill, great care and knowledge of animal anatomy. It is worth noting here that Tański maintained close contacts with the horse stud in Janów Podlaski. Although the subject of the painting remains very classical, the treatment of lighting and composition brings to mind Impressionism, suggesting that despite the lack of radical artistic solutions, Tański was not indifferent to his European experiences.
The painting Hansom Cabs will be presented at the permanent exhibition With the Wind and Against the Wind — Civil Aviation in 2025 in the new Heksagon hangar.
