Stanislaw Bagienski, Lancer and Girlfriend

oil, cardboard, size 40 x 55 cm, signed and dated p. d. "St. Bagienski 1946"

Educated at the Drawing Class of Wojciech Gerson in Warsaw, and later at the Academies of Munich and Paris, painter and illustrator Stanislaw Bagienski (1876 - 1948) remained faithful to the theme of color and weapons throughout his artistic life. He consistently and devotedly illustrated military and battle scenes, praising the weapons of the Polish soldier of many generations. He was a member of the Warsaw Artists' Association "Pro Arte," and from 1927 a professor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. In his work he did not shy away from genre scenes. The featured painting combines both of his interests, deftly illustrating the popular painterly theme of "Lancer and Girl." Rendering both the figure of a horse at a gallop on a country road and a soldier saluting a girl, shown against the background of an idyllic white country cottage with a picturesque garden all around, the author reaches back to his pre-War memories of 1939 in the already post-war reality of 1946.