The Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) was originally a subdivision of the
Jagiellonian University's Department of Literature and was initially (1818–1873) called the School of Drawing and Painting (
Szkoła Rysunku i Malarstwa). Among its original teachers were Polish
Neoclassicist Antoni Brodowski, and
Franciszek Ksawery Lampi, a world-renowned landscape and portrait artist in
Congress Poland whose most notable students there were
Wojciech Korneli Stattler (a teacher of Jan Matejko) and
Piotr Michałowski, equestrian master artist of the
Romantic period. ASP received the status of an independent institution of higher learning in 1873 as the School of Fine Arts (
Szkoła Sztuk Pięknych). The first President of the Academy was painter
Jan Matejko, who brought in other leading artists as professors including
Jan Nepomucen Głowacki, the most outstanding landscape painter of the early 19th century in Poland, as well as
Florian Cynk,
Aleksander Gryglewski and
Leopold Loeffler, member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. The main building based on a
neoclassical design by architect
Maciej Moraczewski was erected in today's Matejko Square in 1879. In 1893–95 its principal was a broadly educated
Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (another teacher of Jan Matejko and later, his close associate) who also served as conservator of architectural monuments in the city. Following the death of Jan Matejko in 1893, the next ASP President elected in 1895 was
Julian Fałat, who remained at his post until 1909. Fałat gave the Academy a new direction by hiring new art instructors associated with contemporary Western art approaches and associated painters such as
Teodor Axentowicz,
Jacek Malczewski (the father of Polish
Symbolism),
Jan Stanisławski,
Leon Wyczółkowski,
Konstanty Laszczka,
Józef Mehoffer,
Stanisław Wyspiański (one of first in Europe to work in all genres),
Wojciech Weiss, and
Józef Pankiewicz among others. The first woman admitted to study at the Academy was
Zofia Baltarowicz-Dzielińska, who, in 1917, gained a status of an auditor. Officially, women were allowed to become students over a year later, after the academy passed a resolution in December 1918. On the 100th anniversary of its founding, in 1979, the Academy was named for
Jan Matejko, its founder and first president. In 2008 the Academy joined
Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations) and became that organization's first educational member in Poland. ==Rectors==