Julian Fałat, Cottage in the Woods, 1909

43.2 x 67.5cm - watercolor, gouache, paper pasted on cardboard signed l.d.: Jul Fałat 909 Bystra

On the reverse, at the bottom left edge, a sheet from a checkered notebook (black ink): I hereby declare | that I have sold the orginal watercolor - | art. mal. J. Fałat (father) | depicting a cottage in the forest. [...] 31/II 47 L [?] [or Z] Burdyński; below stamp: BURDYŃSKI | WARSZAWA | BRACKA 18. Below l.d. collector's sticker filled in black ink: J. Fałat | 28 | Cottage in the Woods.



Provenance: Franciszek Burdyński was the owner of a frame factory established in 1890, located at 18 Bracka Street in Warsaw. The statement of authenticity of the watercolor is signed by his son, Zenon Aleksander (b. 1906) or Lucjusz Burdyński (d. 1966), probably Franciszek's second son.

Julian Fałat (Tuligłowy [Lvov district] 1853 - Bystra near Bielsko 1929) - painter and pedagogue - one of the most outstanding Polish artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, member of Polish and European creative associations and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, repeatedly awarded medals at international exhibitions. He studied painting with Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Leon Dembowski at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow (1868-71 and 1881) and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Alexander Strähuber and Johan Leonhardt Raab (1877-80). After his studies he spent several months in Rome, in 1884 he was in Paris and Spain, and in 1885 he made a sea voyage around the world. In 1886, while hunting with the Prince Radziwill family in Nesvizh, he met the later German Emperor Wilhelm II - for whom he then worked as a court painter in Berlin in 1886-95. In 1894-96 he collaborated with Wojciech Kossak on the Berezina panorama. In 1895 he was appointed director of the School of Fine Arts in Cracow, where he thoroughly reformed the teaching system, transforming the school into a modern Academy of Fine Arts (r.1900). He was rector of the Academy until 1910; after retiring, he settled in Bystra near Bielsko. An excellent watercolorist, he also painted in oils. In his earlier period he worked in the realist convention, with time he lightened and enriched his palette, and in watercolors he introduced an overflowing color patch. He became famous as a painter of hunting scenes usually set in winter scenery; he also painted landscapes, rural genre scenes, portraits and urban views.