Stanislaw Wyspianski, Landscape

Pastel, cardboard, 33.3 x 56.3 cm,
signed: St. Wyspiański.

Expert opinion of Ms. Marta Romanowska, an outstanding expert on Wyspiański's work (issued in Krakow 9.06.2015).
The work is a painterly sketch that is a perfect study of nature. The strongest sensation in this case is undoubtedly its color scheme. The pure colors used here probably resulted from an unexpected and moving color sensation, which the artist noted. [...] The emotion here is expressed by the color laid down by the artist, but also by the natural tonality and texture of the sub-painting, especially visible in the plane of the sky, which was applied very sparingly with horizontal streaks of crayon.
The work bears all the compositional characteristics used by the artist in his landscape subjects. Not to be underestimated is the small but crucial detail of the clearly visible though distant silhouettes of birds above the meadows. They appear extremely rarely in Wyspiański's work, and are hardly ever seen in a stand-alone landscape.
In addition to its unquestionable artistic merits, the work in question has additional qualities that strengthen its status, so to speak. In 1907, the year of Wyspiański's death, lesser-known poetic works and paintings were published among detailed discussions of his entire oeuvre. A black-and-white reproduction of the work in question appeared in the weekly "World" as "Landscape of Cracow." It probably ended up in the collection of Prof. Julian Nowak, which is also an excellent guarantee of authenticity and provenance.

Stanisław WYSPIAŃSKI (1869-1907)
He studied under Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow. Initially he painted in oils, later almost exclusively in pastels, creating mainly portraits and landscapes. He was also involved in designing stained glass windows, printmaking, sculpture, handicrafts, made wall polychrome, illustrated and decorated books. He staged his own dramas and plays by other authors, and designed costumes and theatrical decorations. He held the chair of decorative painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He was a leading figure of Young Poland, considered an authority and spiritual leader of his generation.