oil on cardboard, 32x15cm,in the lower right corner faintly visible,rubbed signature(scratched)
On the back of the painting two statements:
- Sketch of the late Jacek Malczewski Portrait Study of a girl was given to me by the author-Jozefina Żarnecka(wife of Stanislaw Żarnecki(1877-1956) painter,who in the 1920s lived in the same house in Cracow where Jacek Malczewski and Stanislaw Żarnecki had a studio)
-the work comes from a private collector (on the back of the work his statement)
Jacek Malczewski - Polish painter, one of the main representatives of Symbolism at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Painter Jacek Malczewski, son of Julian Malczewski and Maria Korwin, was born in July 1854 in Radom to the Malczewski family. His father worked as secretary of the Land Credit Society of the Radom Governorate, a Polish banking institution and association of landowners. This man, as a true patriot for whom the most important good was Polishness and heritage, exerted a great influence on his son and his further life. Indeed, he was a kind of mentor for him, and it was not without reason that his death in 1884 completely changed the leitmotifs of his son's future paintings.
In 1867 Jacek Malczewski, at the age of 13, was transferred by his parents to Feliks Karczewski, his uncle, who together with Adolf Dygasinski, a novelist, publicist and educator, guided his approach to the world and artistry together. Raptly 4 years later, the 17-year-old Jacek Malczewski moved to Krakow, beginning his studies at a grammar school. The first manifestations of his artistic soul were attending lectures at the School of Fine Arts, first as a free student and later as a student. After graduation, he began further training in Paris, where during his 2-year stay he gained a great deal of practical and theoretical knowledge, and his artistic approach to the world was fully established. The following years, however, were a passel of real successes for him. His wife, Maria Gralewska, gave birth to two children, he received the title of professor in 1908, and in 1912 he became the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts. The breakthrough year in his artistic career should be considered 1918, when he created a series of paintings entitled as "My Life", which are now among the most sought-after paintings of this leading national artist.
The painter Jacek Malczewski was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta in his old age, his paintings were shown at many exhibitions, and he founded a painting school. He died in 1929 in Cracow.
