Edward Okuń, DITCHES, 1910

37.8 x 56.0cm - oil, canvas signed p.d.: EOkuń.1910. [monogram tied].

On the reverse (in black paint): No. 63.

The painting was probably exhibited at Warsaw's Zachęta Gallery in 1911. At the time, the artist presented a number of his canvases, including two titled Lemons, as well as Lemon Orchard and In a Lemon Orchard.



Bibliography:

- Report of the Committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland for 1911, Warsaw 1912, p. 41 [Lemons];

- Małgorzata Biernacka, Literature - Symbol - Nature. The work of Edward Okuń vis-à-vis Young Poland and European Symbolism, Warsaw 2004, p. 281, cat. no. II/197-198 [Lemons].



Edward Okuń (Wólka Zerzyńska /now Zerzeńska/ near Warsaw 1872 - Skierniewice 1945) - painter, draughtsman, illustrator - began his artistic studies at the Warsaw Drawing Class under Wojciech Gerson. From 1891 to 1893 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow, including under Jan Matejko, and from 1893 in Munich under Anton Ažbe, Stanislaw Grocholski and Szymon Hollosy. He completed his studies in Paris. From 1898 he lived permanently in Italy - in Rome, and periodically in nearby Anticoli Corrado, Florence, Sorrento, Amalfi and Capri. In 1914 he traveled to Egypt. In 1921 he returned to Warsaw, where he was a professor at the School of Fine Arts from 1925 to 1930. He traveled to Italy several more times (including in 1928, 1937, 1938), and in 1927 and 1929-1932 he traveled to Yugoslavia, where he created a series of landscapes from the Adriatic Sea - "Jadran". He painted decorative, stylized portraits, idyllic landscapes and compositions with fantastic and fairy-tale themes, close to Symbolism and Art Nouveau. He often designed the frames for his paintings himself, treating them as an integral part of these works. He was an outstanding creator of book graphics; he made illustrations, vignettes, cover designs, initials and interludes, collaborating with the Warsaw magazine Chimera, among others.