Zygmunt Józef Menkes (1896 - 1986), Grandfather. Peasant sitting at the mill wheel, 1918

oil, cardboard, 69.5 x 48.5 cm,
Signed p.d.: J. Menkes pinx. / 918
Expert opinion by Ms. Ewa Bobrowska and Mr. Marek Mielniczuk.

Image inspired by the work of Fotiy Krasitsky (Fotiy Stepanovich Krasitskyi, 1873-1944) "Grandfather Hrytsko. Grandfather," 1905, signed p.d.: Ф. Красицький 1905 / Хатки. The painting reproduced on a color offset postcard published in 1908 by the Kyiv publishing house Квітка, works by F.S. Krasitsky, series I, no. 5).
at the Lviv School of Artistic Industry under Kazimierz Sichulski, at the same time doing restoration work in churches. From 1919 to 1922, he continued his painting studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Wojciech Weiss. In 1922 he went to Berlin, where he met, among others, Alexander Archipenko, and the following year he went to Paris. Since 1925 he settled permanently in France, where he participated in the Autumn and Independent Salons, exhibited his paintings in many Parisian galleries, and was friends with artists of the École de Paris circle. He maintained contacts with Poland being a member of the Zwornik Association of Artists in Cracow and the Lviv grouping New Generation. He traveled extensively and before the outbreak of World War II settled permanently in the United States. He was a long-time lecturer at the Art Students League, and worked with the Associated American Artists Gallery and the French Art Gallery. Menkes' Parisian work refers to the trends of Expressionism and Fauvism (Matisse, Soutine), in the American period the artist geometrizes forms and strengthens color contrasts. He paints portraits, nudes, landscape, still lifes and figural compositions.