Stanisław RACZYŃSKI (1903-1982), Kraków, portfolio of 10 woodcuts

publisher's binding in album form, 41 x 36 cm; woodcuts on tint,
each signed in pencil by author, on title page dedication by author dated 1960,
on pre-title page ex libris in woodcut with space to inscribe owner,
additionally includes in woodcut - in the author's hand - a list of works: 1) St. Mary's Church; 2) Barbican; 3) Wawel Castle - cathedral towers; 4) Wawel Castle - Sigismund Chapel; 5) Wawel Castle - castle courtyard; 6) St. Idzi's Church - Wawel Castle; 7) Courtyard of Collegium Maius, 8) Wit Stwosz's altarpiece; 9) 18th century portal of 20 Św. Jana Street; 10) St. Barbara Church "Ogrójec".
Stanislaw Raczynski (born 1903 in Wadowice, died 1982 in Krakow). He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Teodor Axentowicz, Wojciech Weiss and Jan Wojnarski; he defended his diploma in 1926. In 1927-1928 he worked as a stage designer at the Popular Theater in Cracow, and for the next two years at the Grand Theater in Poznan. In 1930 he went to Paris on a scholarship from the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment. He supplemented his studies while still in Italy. The artist worked in graphic design, advertising and illustration. Among other things, he made illustrations for Franz Kafka's The Trial and The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais. He also published two portfolios of woodcuts with depictions of Polish architectural monuments. Stanislaw Raczynski made mostly woodcuts, and was strongly influenced by Wladyslaw Skoczylas. He often took up rural and highland themes, depicting situational portraits of Highlanders or multi-figure genre scenes. He also frequently depicted the aforementioned views of architecture, and less frequently depicted female images and religious subjects. The artist's prints are characterized by decorative stylization.