Kraków: Hirszenberg’s First Steps as an Artist

This chapter follows Samuel Hirszenberg's move from Łódź to Kraków. When Hirszenberg arrived in Kraków, the city was gaining a certain economic momentum, but it was still in the shadow of the economic dynamism that marked the industrial mobility of Łódź. The chapter narrates how Hirszenberg registered at the Kraków School of Fine Arts in 1881. The Kraków school had a demanding programme that included drawing and painting classes and theoretical subject. In trying to delineate Hirszenberg's development during these early days in Kraków, the chapter turns to his student sketchbook, presently in the prints and drawings department of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. This singular document provides remarkable insight into his life in this period and later during his studies in Munich. It provides an extremely rare personal record of his artistic explorations, which reverberated in his creations years later. Guided by his sketchbook, the chapter demonstrates the cultural and artistic turns the life of the 17-year-old Hirszenberg took on his path from Łódź to Munich.