Dimensions: 69.7 x 55 cm
signed and dated below: 'Zakopane 1933. | ADAM | STYKA'.
on the reverse a paper exhibition sticker of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts dated 1933, a paper export sticker and a paper auction sticker; on the reverse inventory numbers: 'RF351' and 'No 33'
Exhibited
Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw, 1933, cat. no. 174
Adam Styka, Exposition Aux Galeries du Studio, Brussels April 21-May 4, 1933, cat. no. 33.
Literature
Guide 81, Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, Warsaw II 1933, p. 11, cat. no. 174 [Highlander from Zakopane].
"The World", 1933 no. 8 (25 II), il. p. 17 [Highlander].
Adam Styka, Exposition Aux Galeries du Studio, exhibition catalog, Brussels 21 1933, cat. no. 33 [Vieux montagnard polonais].
Report of the Committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw for 1933, p. 31 [Highlander from Zakopane].
Biography
He was the son of painter Jan and younger brother of Tadeusz Styka, an Orientalist painter. He studied mathematics and engineering, and later entered the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris (1908- 1912). At the beginning of his career he painted genre scenes, but after a trip to North Africa he painted mainly oriental paintings. He found motifs during, repeatedly, trips to Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Egypt. He exhibited his works mainly abroad, but in the interwar period he also had several exhibitions in Poland, including at Warsaw's Zachęta Gallery. These shows were always very popular with the public, and the exhibited paintings found many buyers. He also painted religious paintings and was involved in book illustration, including designing illustrations for 'In Desert and Wilderness' by H. Sienkiewicz. After World War II, the artist lived and worked in the United States - he painted landscapes and residents of Mexico and Arizona, and especially a lot of religious paintings.
