Dimensions: 42 x 56.5 cm (inside the mat)
Signed and dated in pencil in the center: 'LWyczół | 1903'
Print from the portfolio: “Leon Wyczółkowski” (“Leon Wyczółkowski’s Portfolio,” “Mixed Portfolio”), Kraków, 1904.
Condition
visible crease across 3/4 of the composition and a slight tear along the crease at the top of the sheet
Provenance
private collection, Kraków
Bibliography
See also:
Maria Twarowska, Leon Wyczółkowski: Letters and Memoirs, Wrocław 1960, pp. 110, 200–205
Krystyna Czarnocka, A Century and a Half of Polish Printmaking, Warsaw 1962, pp. 218–219
Maria Twarowska, Leon Wyczółkowski, Warsaw 1973, pp. 28, 44, 45, ill. 21, 63
Maria Grońska, Prints in Books, Portfolios, and Albums: Polish Art and Bibliophile Publications from 1899–1945, Wrocław–Warsaw–Kraków 1994, p. 297, cat. 616
Leopold Wellisz, Memoirs and Reflections on My Collection of Polish Prints. Catalog of Drawings and Engravings by Feliks Jasiński and Leon Wyczółkowski in the Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 1970, p. 46, cat. 11
Kulig-Janarek, Krystyna, and Wacława Milewska, Leon Wyczółkowski 1851–1936. On the 150th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth, National Museum in Kraków, Kraków 2003, p. 136, ill. 61 (pastel)
Biography
From 1869 to 1875, he studied at the Drawing Class in Warsaw under, among others, W. Gerson, A. Kamiński, and R. Hadziewicz. He continued his studies at the Academy in Munich, and from 1877 to 1879 attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he studied under J. Matejko. From 1895 to 1911, he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, and from 1934 onward, he headed the Department of Graphic Arts at the State School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 1889, he traveled to Paris, where he encountered Impressionism. Initially, he painted historical and genre scenes; later, he turned to realistic portraits and fashionable salon scenes. During his stay in Ukraine from 1883 to 1893, he mainly created scenes depicting fishermen and peasants, exploring the themes of light and color in his work. After 1895, he was briefly influenced by Symbolism, after which he turned toward a distinctive style of colorism. He worked primarily in pastel, watercolor, and ink. He painted atmospheric landscapes—primarily of the Tatra Mountains—architectural monuments, and still lifes, especially flowers. He also created stylistically diverse, insightful portraits. From around 1918, he turned to printmaking (etching and autolithography). His work is considered one of the most outstanding artistic phenomena in Polish art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
