Adam Styka, A SETTLEMENT IN THE DESERT

20.6 x 33 cm - oil on cardboard

signed lower right: ADAM | STYKA [in frame]
 
on the reverse, two stamps: at the top, the number 6; near the bottom edge, a fragment of the logo of the art supplies manufacturer “Lefranc et Cie”—an anchor crossed with a caduceus between the letters L and F
Additionally, an Agra-Art auction label from 2020 on the frame

♣ Droit de suite: ♣ A fee resulting from the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994, on copyright and related rights (droit de suite) will be added to the Purchase Price.

Adam Styka (Kielce 1890 – New York 1959)—son of the painter Jan and younger brother of Tadeusz Styka—was an Orientalist painter. He initially studied mathematics and engineering, then began his studies at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1908–1912). During World War I, he served in General J. Haller’s Blue Army—first in France (medal for the Battle of Verdun), later in Poland. As a painter, he began with genre scenes, but after a trip to North Africa, he primarily created paintings with Oriental themes. He found his motifs during his frequent trips to Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Egypt. He exhibited his works mainly abroad; during the interwar period, he also had several exhibitions in Poland, including at the Zachęta in Warsaw. These shows were always hugely popular with the public, and the exhibited paintings found many eager buyers. Adam Styka also painted religious works (the well-known painting of Christ the King; 1944; for the Pallottine Fathers in Warsaw; destroyed in a fire in 2007) and worked as a book illustrator, including creating illustrations for H. Sienkiewicz’s *In Desert and Wilderness*. After World War II, the artist lived and worked in the United States—painting landscapes and the people of Mexico and Arizona, as well as numerous religious works. He also oversaw the conservation work on the Golgotha panorama, a work by his father, Jan Styka (unveiled after renovation in 1951 in Los Angeles).