Ildefons Houwalt, Beyond the City II

gouache, tempera, paper, size 19, 5 x 27 cm in the light of the frame, signed and described on the back "Ildefons Houwalt Beyond the City II" and "Beyond the City II.... Barbara Houwalt." Stamped with details of the work and confirmation of authorship by the artist's wife. Dated 1973-87.

Ildefons Houwalt (1910-1987) was an artist raised and educated in Vilnius, who came to Poznan as part of the repatriation from the eastern lands. He was a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius in the studio of Ludomir Slendzinski and a second lieutenant of cavalry after a course at the cadet school in Grudziadz. After the September campaign, he returned to his hometown of Medina and took an active part in underground activities. At the same time active artistically, he took part in exhibitions of the Vilnius milieu. In Poznań, he became the founder of the 4F+R art group - the first manifestation of modern art in the post-war years, cutting himself off from the Kapists who dominated there. He developed his own artistic language, in which he resorted to metaphorical, symbolic imagery that was half dreamlike and half realistic. His small-scale works, mostly in gouache and tempera, brought him recognition and the name of a leading creator of fantasy painting as early as the 1970s - painting that is now experiencing a renaissance. His works are in private and museum collections and are sought after and valued by collectors.