Oil, canvas pasted on plywood; size: 70 x 50 cm; signed l. d.: Witkiewicz
Kazimierz Wojciech Witkiewicz (born December 23, 1880 in Warsaw, died October 21, 1973 in Krakow) - Polish painter, graphic artist, librarian, president of the Society of Friends of the Book, founder of the Knights of the Bibliophilic Order with a chapter of the Order of the White Raven.
In 1904 he settled in Cracow, where he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts. He studied painting under T. Axentowicz. From 1912 he was librarian, then manager, of the Library of the Industrial Museum, which was later renamed the A. Baraniecki Municipal Technical and Industrial Museum in Cracow (after World War II the State Museum of Artistic Industry).
After the collection was incorporated into the Library of the Academy of Fine Arts, he became its director in 1951. As a professor at this university, he taught book history from 1954. In 1922 he became one of the co-founders of the Society of Book Lovers in Cracow, of which he was president for 40 years.
In the years (1938-1939) he edited TMK's magazine "Silva Rerum." He was one of the initiators of bibliophile conventions. In 1925, at the First Congress of Polish Bibliophiles in Krakow, a Bibliophile Council was established to coordinate the activities of individual societies. Kazimierz Witkiewicz was a member of it. In 1965 he became an honorary member of the Association Internationale de Bibliophilie in Paris. As a professor at this university, he taught book history since 1954. He was an organizer of the Knights of Bibliophilia with the White Raven Chapter. After World War II, he made efforts to establish a Museum of Book and Printing Art. He was involved in designing ex-librises, graphics and book bindings. A member of many societies and organizations including a member of the Polish Librarians' Union and ZPAP.
Winner of many awards and decorations. He was buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery.
