Leon WYCZÓŁKOWSKI (1852–1936), ANEMONES

Pastel, paper, gilding, 43 x 58.5 cm,
signed lower right: LWyczół [1]910.


Leon WYCZÓŁKOWSKI ( 1852–1936)
A painter, printmaker, and educator, he was one of the most outstanding Polish artists working at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He began his artistic studies in the Drawing Class in Warsaw under the guidance of W. Gerson and A. Kamiński (1869–1873), then continued them at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts under A. Wagner (1875–1877), in Kraków under J. Matejko (1877/78), and during two trips to Paris (1878 and 1889). After completing his studies, he settled in Lviv and later moved to Warsaw. He spent the years 1883–1889 traveling through Ukraine and Podolia. In 1895, he moved to Kraków after being appointed a lecturer at the local School of Fine Arts. In the following years, he traveled extensively—to Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and England. He was one of the founding members of the “Sztuka” Society of Polish Artists. He exhibited extensively both in Poland and abroad. He spent the years 1929–1936 in Poznań and Gościeradz, commuting to Warsaw, where (beginning in 1934) he headed the Department of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts. He painted landscapes, portraits, genre scenes, still lifes, and flowers. He frequently used pastels and watercolors; he was an outstanding printmaker and also worked in sculpture.