Czesław Borys Jankowski, CHŁOP Z KOŁOMYI

23.5 x 14.0cm - watercolor, paper signed right: CBJ [initials tied].

On the reverse (in ink): Habitant de | Kolomyja | Pologne - Galicie. | [aq]uarelle de | Cz. B. de Jankowski

Czeslaw Borys Jankowski (Warsaw 1862 - Sceaux 1941) - draughtsman, illustrator, painter; graduated from a real school in Warsaw, after which - in 1880-1881 he studied at the Warsaw Drawing School under Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kaminski. He was also a pupil of Michal Elwiro Andriolli and under his influence took up drawing and illustration above all. From 1880, he published drawings in the magazine "Ogrodnik polski" and later in other illustrated magazines ("Kłosy", "Tygodnik Ilustrowany", "Biesiada Literacka" and others). In 1886 he moved to Cracow, where he collaborated with the magazine "Świat" and in 1887 won first prize in the TPSP competition. In 1888 he left for France; he lived near Paris and still studied with L. Bonnat, R. Collin and F. Cormon. Revered as a draftsman-illustrator, he was a contributor to the French magazine Illustration. He also received commissions from England and America. He worked with the Parisian department store Au Bon Marché; he was a designer of women's fashion, fabrics and wallpapers. From 1897 he belonged to the Polish Literary and Artistic Circle, and from 1928 to the Cercle des Artistes Polonais in Paris. In 1930 he received the French Legion of Honor. He painted in watercolor, oil and pastel, and used crayon, ink, sepia and gouache. He created symbolic, religious compositions and landscapes. But above all, he was an illustrator-drawer, valued for his mastery of technique, fidelity and careful execution. Among the numerous book illustrations made by the artist, the best known in Poland were the drawing cartoons for Mickiewicz's Dziady (1896), Ogniem i mieczem and Sienkiewicz's Potop. He created entire series of drawings or oil paintings, including From the Life of an Artist (1890), Emigration (1893) and Mother's Dream (1893). He was the author of a number of watercolors and drawings related to World War I, such as Harvest at Verdun and Allegory of Victory. He has exhibited at the Krywult Salon and TZSP in Warsaw, TPSP in Krakow, Lviv and Poznan, as well as in Berlin, Kyiv Paris, Marseilles and Bordeaux. The artist's works can be found, among others, in the collections of the National Museums in Warsaw and Cracow.