Dimensions: 77 x 93 cm
signed and dated lower right: 'J Skotnicki 1930'
Paper exhibition label on the reverse
Exhibited
Exhibition and sale, “Zachęta” Group of Visual Artists, date unknown
Biography
Visual artist, political activist, resident of Podkowa Leśna. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where his instructors were Jan Ciągliński and Léon Bakst. He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under Jacek Malczewski, Teodor Axentowicz, Leon Wyczółkowski, and Józef Mehoffer; he then studied in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière from 1904 to 1905. From 1908 to 1917, he lived in Zakopane, where he co-founded the “Sztuka Podhalańska” (Podhale Art) society and the “Kilim” workshops run by his wife, Teodora. He was appointed a member of the Council of State in 1918. He took part in the independence struggles of 1918, fighting in the 2nd Brigade of the Legions. From 1922 to 1929, he served as director of the Department of Culture and Art in the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Education. On December 16, 1922, he accompanied Gabriel Narutowicz during a visit to the Zachęta building and was present during the assassination attempt on the president and at the time of his death. After 1945, he briefly returned to work at the Ministry of National Education, but after his prewar activities were revealed, he was removed from his ministerial post. Together with art historian Andrzej Kossakowski, he ran the Ognisko Plastyczne art center in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, which he had conceived and founded.
In 1957, Jan Skotnicki’s fictionalized memoirs, titled *At the Easel and at the Desk*, were published. A second, revised and expanded edition is currently in preparation.
His body of work includes both oil paintings and watercolors. In addition to paintings, he drew and created prints. These were Young Poland-style figurative scenes with historical and military themes, as well as landscapes. In later years, he expanded his practice to include portraiture. In 1906, he held his first solo exhibition at the Society of Friends of the Fine Arts, and in 1910, he exhibited his works at the General Exhibition of Polish Art in Lviv. Two more major exhibitions of Jan Skotnicki’s work took place at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in 1913 and 1918. In 1940, a retrospective exhibition of Skotnicki’s work was planned. From 1947 to 1955, he taught art history at the Center for Visual Arts in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, which he founded and served as its first director.
