Wlastimil Hofman (1881 Prague - 1970 Szklarska Poreba), Landscape, 1965.

oil, fiberboard, 64.5 × 51.5 cm
signed and dated. at bottom: Wlastimil/Hofman 1965
On the reverse, author's inscription: Middle/Triptych/"Exile from Cracow/to Szklarska Poreba".

"Szklarska Poreba restored my courage. It was here that I regained my independence and self-confidence."
The featured painting depicts Hofman's beloved Karkonosze where he settled since 1947. As he recalled: "Be that as it may, I loved our former capital [Krakow] but what was I to do with myself next? I exchanged Krakow in 1947 for Szklarska Poreba Średnia. The new land was still then an uninhabited island, a land of primordial rebellion. It often resembled a living volcano, but was attracted by the silence, the beauty of nature. People left me, nature approached. (...) Time has fused so strongly with this basin that today not even an earthquake could move us from here. More - Szklarska Poreba restored my courage. It was here that I regained my independence and self-confidence. (...) I paint and paint - and it gives me so much joy."
B. Czajkowski, Portrait from Memory, Ossolineum 1971, pp. 6-7.