Stanislaw Zhukowski, RUCZAJ, 1932

48.0 x 48.3cm - oil, cardboard signed l. d.: S. Żukowski

On the back author's inscription (in pencil): "Ruczaj c. 1000 zl | S. Zhukovsky | 1932 (Belarus); below are framing notes; also on the lower bar of the frame an auction sticker.



Ruczaj is an excellent example of Żukowski's impressionistic painting. As always, the artist conveys to the viewer the state of the nature he encounters, enriched with personal feelings. He easily renders the rays of the warm, intense sun and the frothy water of the murmuring stream. With quick, free-flowing brushstrokes, he builds a scene inside the forest backwoods, and establishes the main character of the scene as a stream hidden under a hillock. Only the foam, painted with rapid, short strokes, delineates the current of crystal-clear water. Using the clear blue of the sky, the artist skillfully built the depth of the spring landscape.

Ruczaj exhibits the painter's characteristic expressiveness, and at the same time precision in the construction of plans and light and air space. The saturation of the color range combining warm and cold hues is also a peculiar feature of his works. The artist masterfully renders an air-filled landscape bathed in the rays of the warm sun, and the tranquility of flowing water makes the painting overflow with a lyrical note. Zhukovsky thus shares with the viewer his admiration for the surrounding nature.



Stanislaw Zhukovsky is one of the most important Polish landscape painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He painted landscapes directly from nature, preferring bright, saturated colors. Influenced by Impressionism, the artist attached great importance to light, which he used very skillfully, while freely handling color. His landscapes seem very real and vivid, full of air and space. Zhukovsky-impressionist, tried to capture in his paintings the changeability of the world, the fleeting impressions of what he saw in nature. He often painted landscapes of Polesie, Bialowieza Forest and Svisloch in the open air, using thick, dynamic brushstrokes. He depicted nature in transitional states, focusing on the changes of seasons and times of day. He depicted both dusk and dawn, as well as autumn and spring breakthroughs with extraordinary mastery. One of the main subjects of his landscapes was spring, the first rays of the warm sun, the first flowers. Between 1925 and 1939, he actively presented his works at exhibitions of the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and the Cracow Society for the Friends of Fine Arts.

In February 1935, at the Warsaw Zachęta, the artist presented more than 40 paintings, among which was Ruczaj in the backwoods. On the other hand, at the beginning of 1936 in Cracow there was an exhibition presenting more than 80 of his works, among which was a landscape entitled Ruczaj w słonecznym dniu. However, the lack of accurate catalog descriptions makes it impossible to clearly identify these paintings.

(ЖУКОВСКИЙ Станислав Юлианович)

Stanislav Zhukovsky (Jędrychowice near Grodno 1875 - Pruszków 1944) - landscape painter; studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1892 to 1901, including under Sergei Korovin, Abram Archipov and Isaak Levitan. After his studies, he remained in Russia. From 1896 he participated in the exhibitions of the Society of Peripheral Artists; in 1907 he received the title of academician. From 1923 he lived permanently in Warsaw, where he exhibited many times at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He was primarily an accomplished landscape painter; he also painted interiors and, less frequently, portraits. His paintings, always highly regarded, were repeatedly awarded medals at exhibitions - including Autumn Evening, which was awarded a gold medal at an international exhibition in Munich in 1912. While in Russia, the artist usually signed his works in Cyrillic, later in Latin alphabet. Many of his paintings are in Polish museum collections and in museums in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk. A catalog of the artist's known works is included in a richly illustrated monograph, by M.U.Gorelov [Stanislav Yulianovich Zhukovskiy, Moscow 1982].