Witold WOJTKIEWICZ (1879–1909), A Cloudy Day, 1903

oil on cardboard; 17.8 x 26.6 cm;
signed and dated lower right: W. Wojtkiewicz 1903 (in black ink);
on the reverse, in the lower left corner, a number in ink: 4.);
below, a printed label from the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland: No. 3578 / Artist’s name: Witold / Wojtkiewicz / Medium: oil / Title
Cloudy Day / Dimensions - / Price or value 20 / Owned by the Artist / Address: 24 Chłodna Street / Warsaw, September 2/15, 903 (filled in by hand, in ink).

Bibliography:
- Report of the TZSP Committee in the Kingdom of Poland for the year 1903. Appendix to the Report..., Warsaw 1904, p. 9 (four landscapes listed here: Meadow,
At Sunset, Abandoned Manor, Cloudy Day);
- J. Wiercińska, Catalog of Works Exhibited at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw, 1860–1914, Wrocław–Warsaw–Kraków 1969, p. 411
(landscapes listed as above);
- B. Domańska, A. Zeńczak, Witold Wojtkiewicz 1879–1909, Exhibition Catalog, vol. II, MNK, Kraków 1989, p. 158, cat. no. 262 (listed as a lost painting).

In 1903, the young art student, having taken only a few lessons at the Warsaw Drawing Class, before beginning his art studies in Kraków under Leon Wyczółkowski, went on vacation to the Zamoyski family estate in Godziszów near Janów Lubelski. It was there that he created these atmospheric, small-scale autumn landscapes, four of which were exhibited in Warsaw at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and documented. These were: “Meadow,” “At Sunset,” “Abandoned Manor,” and the featured “Cloudy Day.” It is likely that more than four landscapes were created at that time, as the following works can be found among those in museum collections and those previously offered for sale: “At Sunset” (MNK collection); “Barns” [“Abandoned Farmstead,” “Abandoned Manor”], offered in 2015; and “Landscape with a Cottage,” presented at auction in 2002. The latter was not included in the Reports of the TZSP Committee in the Kingdom of Poland for 1903.
The painting on display, *A Cloudy Day*, is a unique example of the early work of Witold Wojtkiewicz, who became famous as a Symbolist painter known for his grotesque, sometimes satirical aesthetic.