Bronisława Rychter-Janowska, AUTUMN BONFIRE

26.8 x 39 cm - oil on cardboard

signed lower left: BR-RYCHTER-JANOWSKA.

On the reverse, on the so-called “back panel,” there are auction labels and a stamp from the framing shop.

Bronisława Rychter-Janowska (Kraków 1868 – Kraków 1953)—an artist known as the “painter of Poland’s vanishing manor houses”—began her painting studies in Kraków under the guidance of her brother, the painter Stanisław Janowski, and in courses taught by A. Baraniecki. She also received private lessons from Ludwik Boller (a Munich-based painter who was then working on the Panorama of the Tatra Mountains). In 1896, she left for Munich to continue her studies, where she studied under Anton Ažbé and Szymon Hollósy. She traveled extensively, also visiting Hungary and Italy, where she studied at the Academy of Florence and in Rome. Initially based in Kraków, she settled in Stary Sącz around 1906, where she ran a private painting school for a time. In 1917, she returned to Kraków. She continued to travel extensively, setting out “in search of beauty” to Italy, North Africa, and Turkey. She painted in oils, watercolors, and pastels, and created tapestries and appliqué works. Beginning in 1901, she repeatedly exhibited her works in Kraków, Warsaw, Lviv, Prague, Vienna, Rome, Venice, and Florence. She painted numerous landscapes (including many Italian ones), views and interiors of manors and churches, scenes from rural life, as well as portraits. She was active in journalism and literary writing (including the novel *Beyond Rome* and the novella *Strzygoń*); she was the author of several plays (The Monk, The Parasite) and extensive memoirs. She was the wife of the painter Tadeusz Richter and the sister-in-law of Gabriela Zapolska.