Alfons Karpinski (1875 Rozwadów - 1961 Kraków), Still life with a clock

oil, cardboard, 47 × 68 cm light frame
Signed p. d.: "a.Karpinski"

The Biedermeier column clock visible in the painting came from the living room of the artist's apartment. Karpinski repeatedly used his studio or mixing room as a background in portraits or the location of still lifes. This characteristic clock appeared in "Portrait of an Actress - Gryf-Olszewska (oil, canvas, 120 x 115, in the collection of the Regional Museum in Rzeszow) or in "Self-portrait in the Studio" from 1960 (illustration, oil, cardboard, 60 x 102 cm, in the collection of the MN in Szczecin).
"Still lifes are the best-known thematic group in Karpinski's work (...). In these compositions Karpinski diversifies the field of the frame. Once he covers a large area of the interior, at other times a small section of space. (...) The most interesting are the multi-element versions which give us a picture of the artist's extraordinary skill in showing the difference in texture of individual objects, in matching the form of the composition to the character of the representation and in perfectly sophisticated colors. It is these additional stylistic features that enhance the value of the composition."
(M. Bartoszek, "Alfons Karpinski 1875-1961", [exhibition cat.], Sandomierz District Museum, Regional Museum in Stalowa, 2003, p. 28).