Portrait of Feliks Jasieński

Feliks Jasieński — known by the Japanese-inspired pseudonym Manggha — was the most important patron and collector of Japanese art in Poland and one of the key figures of the Young Poland cultural movement in Kraków. His collection of Japanese prints, lacquerware, and objects was later donated to the National Museum in Kraków and became the basis of the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology. Weiss's portrait of Jasieński from 1903 was a significant commission, depicting one of the most intellectually vital figures of the Kraków art world at the height of his cultural influence. The National Museum in Kraków holds this portrait as a document of the Young Poland milieu.

Weiss renders Jasieński with the psychological intensity that characterizes his best portraiture, giving the sitter's face a quality of intellectual alertness appropriate to a man known for his enthusiasms and his influence on younger artists. The background is kept simple and dark, concentrating attention on the face.