Between 1917 and 1920, the Polish School of Fine Arts, founded by artists - our compatriots - operated in Kiev. Although in such a short period the institution probably did not manage to develop its own style and appropriate reputation, its existence was of momentous importance.

The school owes its establishment to two factors. Firstly, after the outbreak of the First World War, the authorities in St Petersburg became more liberal towards the Kingdom of Poland. Secondly, thousands of Polish refugees from Galicia and the Kingdom arrived in Kiev, which meant that there was an increased demand for the opening of more and more educational institutions.

Liberal St. Petersburg
After the outbreak of the Great War resulting in the German army invading many towns in the Kingdom of Poland, its inhabitants began to leave for the East. Many of them settled in Kiev. Although figures are difficult to estimate, it can be assumed that around 90,000 of our compatriots of various social strata and ages found their way to the future capital of Ukraine. Schools, kindergartens and nurseries were opened for the children arriving in the city. In the 1917/1918 school year, among others, 12 secondary schools (attended by almost 24,000 pupils), 7 vocational schools, 10 primary schools, 4 nursery schools, and 4 freblowka gardens were recorded. Education in these establishments was mostly conducted in the Polish language.

In addition, as early as August 1914, the authorities in St. Petersburg began declaring their readiness to give the Kingdom of Poland wide autonomy after victory over Germany. Admittedly, Nicholas II did not put forward any specifics disregarding some pressure from his foreign minister. At the beginning of 1917, the emperor was on the verge of signing a document proclaiming the independence of the Kingdom of Poland, but did not dare to do so. In March of that year, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. Power was taken over by the Provisional Government, which, literally days after its formation, proclaimed the independence of the Polish lands once part of the Russian Empire. This decision led literally to an outpouring of Polish schools and associations in Kiev. Like mushrooms after the rain, even colleges began to spring up: Higher Polish Scientific Courses, Polish University College, Polish Institute of Social Education. All that was missing was an artistic institution.

The birth of the School of Fine Arts
Unfortunately, the insignificant number of sources does not allow us to reconstruct the life and functioning of this university. Unfortunately, the available data are often contradictory, which also makes it impossible to verify the facts presented there. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the profiles and activities of its founders, as they were the ones who decided the shape of the school.

One of the founders of the institution was the painter and graphic artist Leon Kowalski (1870-1937), born in Kiev. He graduated from the men's gymnasium in Kiev and was a pupil of the well-known painter Nikolai Murashko, a graduate of St Petersburg's Academy of Fine Arts, a true master of realist art, whose works were characterised by psychological depth and (in the Kingdom of Poland, he became famous for his iconostasis of Orthodox churches). Muraszko travelled frequently throughout Europe, viewing the works of the great masters in the major European galleries. He maintained contacts with Jan Matejko. In 1875, he opened a school of fine arts, where he taught for as long as 25 years.

Kowalski graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. He then lived in Europe for several years and had exhibitions at the Champs de Mars in Paris. On his return to Poland, he showed his paintings at, among others, the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and the Krakow Society for the Friends of Fine Arts.

At the end of the first decade, he was often in Kiev. He met with his professional friends, including Władysław Galimski (1860-1949) and Wilhelm Kotarbiński (1849-1921 or 1922). The former graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, where one of his masters was Pavel Vereshchagin himself. Kotarbiński, in turn, graduated from the Academy of St. Luke in Rome (his studies were made possible by a scholarship from the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts). After living abroad for several years, he settled at his estate in Slutsk district (now in Belarus). But he often came to Kiev, where he worked with Mikhail Vasnetsov and Mikhail Vrubel on the decoration of St Vladimir's Cathedral. His work was so well-known in artistic circles that he was often compared to Henryk Siemiradzki.

In 1890s Galimski and Kotarbinski, together with several other Poles, founded a school of painting and drawing at 14 Lwowska St. In 1917, when the independence of the Polish Kingdom was declared, the artists transformed it into the School of Fine Arts. Leon Kowalski also joined the teaching staff. Immediately after the establishment of the institution, Mieczysław Treter, a museologist, editor and lecturer (he moved to Lviv in 1918), became a lecturer in art history there.

The course of the careers of the above-mentioned people and their in-depth education prove that they were outstanding practitioners and theorists of art. Unfortunately, they were only able to share their knowledge for three years. They had to leave Kiev and go to Poland to save their own lives. Only Kotarbinski, who died there from exhaustion, remained in the Ukrainian capital.