Painter, forefather of Polish gliding

Czesław Tański was born on 17 July 1862 in Pieczyska, the district of Grójec, in an impoverished family of landed gentry. He pursued his artistic interests at the Warsaw School of Drawing of Wojciech Gerson and the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. After a few years he continued his studies at Académie Julian in Paris. Despite the awards he received, his belonging to the artistic bohemia and many exhibitions, it was not his artistic work that became the main passion in his life. It was gliding that came to the fore. Despite being self-taught in this craft, his pioneering achievements in design and test flights met with great interest as the first in Poland. He was called the Polish Icarus. He died on 24 February 1942 in his house in Olszanka, having fallen into depression after the loss of his son Tadeusz, an outstanding design engineer and inventor in the automotive industry, murdered in Auschwitz in 1941 because of his refusal to cooperate with the Germans.

The exhibition was prepared by the students of the 1st Stefan Żeromski High School in Kielce.