SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Henryk Uziemblo

Henryk Uziemblo’s career is marked by continuity between painting, applied arts and the creation of spaces: a co-founder of Polska Sztuka Stosowana in 1901, he advocated bringing together the so-called “fine” arts and the applied arts, while also working in stained glass, book design, furniture, textiles, mosaics and interior decoration. His training took him from the Industrial School in Kraków to the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, where he studied under Karol Karger, and then to the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, in the studios of Teodor Axentowicz and Stanisław Wyspiański in 1902–1903. He continued his studies at the Académie Julian in Paris and in London, where he studied interior architecture. An exhibition of his work in Vienna in 1906 helped bring him to public attention; he exhibited frequently thereafter and, in 1912, notably won the competition to design the interior of the Hotel Krakowski in Lviv.

In painting, he worked in oil, watercolour and pastel, often using thick paint and impasto. Atmospheric landscape recurs throughout his work; the source notes the influence of Jan Stanisławski and the French Post-Impressionists in these compositions. He is also presented as a representative of the “style of the terroir”, where European Secession often meets elements of local folk art. Alongside landscapes, he painted seascapes and city views, portraits and genre scenes, extending his practice across a range of subjects. His work was not limited to easel painting: for several years, he served as artistic director of Stanisław Gabriel Żeleński’s stained-glass workshop and designed stained-glass windows there. He also practised printmaking and monumental painting, designing and executing murals at Wawel Cathedral and creating polychrome decoration for Sosnowiec Cathedral with Włodzimierz Tetmajer.

Called up to the Austro-Hungarian army in 1915, Uziemblo documented military life through studies of soldiers, scenes from the front and views, and also designed cemeteries. In 1920, he was commissioned to provide the artistic design for the ceremony of the “wedding of Poland with the sea” in Puck. From 1922, he taught at the State School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry in Kraków. His interior design projects include those for the Uciecha cinema in 1912 and the Bagatela theatre in 1918–1919, both in Kraków; these interiors no longer survive. His works are held in private and museum collections, including those of the National Museums in Warsaw and Kraków.

This profile brings together identity references for Henryk Uziemblo and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

1 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.

Sources and references

• Reference record
• RKDartists · ODC-BY-1.0
• Documentary source

SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19