Włodzimierz Błocki, *PRACZKI*, before 1914

108 x 62 cm - oil on canvas mounted on cardboard



Provenance: –owned by the artist’s wife, Janina Błocka (née Pazirska);
– owned by the aforementioned’s son;
– private collection, purchased from the aforementioned owner.

Włodzimierz Błocki (Lviv 1885 – Zakopane 1920) – painter and printmaker – considered “one of the leading artists of his generation” (SAP); according to T. Dobrowolski, “the creator of [paintings] that anticipated modern colorism.” From 1904, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, initially under Florian Cynk, Konstanty Laszczka, and, above all, under Leon Wyczółkowski (1905–1910). During his studies, he received numerous awards and honors. In 1911, together with Teodor Grott, he traveled to Italy, visiting Florence, Rome, Naples, and Sicily. In 1914, he stayed in Paris, and from that point on, the influence of French Impressionism became evident in his paintings. He lived permanently in Lviv, where his first exhibition took place in 1911. He painted portraits, genre scenes, nudes, landscapes, and still lifes. He was particularly fond of watercolor. Even during his studies, he also worked in printmaking, especially lithography, etching, and aquatint. In 1908, he published a portfolio of erotic prints titled *Golden Orchids*. In 1911, together with T. Grott, he published a portfolio of etchings from Florence and contributed to the collective portfolio *Kraków 1911*. Suffering from tuberculosis, he spent the last year of his life in Zakopane. His paintings are extremely rare on the antique art market.