Jozef Rapacki, SPRING, 1914

54.8 x 76.0cm - oil, canvas signed p.d.: JÓZEF RAPACKI 1914



This atmospheric Mazovian landscape depicting spring melt was painted in Olszanka near Zyrardow, where Rapacki settled in 1907. At the time, he painted entire landscape cycles, including From the Mazovian Land and Around My House, expressing in them his emotional and admiring attitude to nature, which he constantly communed with, observed and admired.



Reproduced image:

- Postcard published by the A. J. Ostrowski, which published postcards in Lodz and Warsaw between 1900 and 1945.

Józef Rapacki (Warsaw 1871 - Olszanka near Skierniewice 1929), called "the painter of birches and lilac heather," was one of the most popular Warsaw landscape painters of the late 19th and first quarter of the 20th century. He began his painting education as a student of Wojciech Gerson at the Warsaw Drawing Class. He later went on to study at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow under Florian Cynk (1886-1887) and in Munich at Friedrich Fehr's private school (1888-1889). After his studies, he traveled to Italy several times. He participated in numerous exhibitions at the TZSP in Warsaw and in Lvov (1894 silver medal), Krakow, Vilnius, Kielce. He also exhibited abroad - in Berlin (1893) or Paris, where in 1900 he was awarded a diploma at the Universal World Exhibition. He belonged to the "Pro Arte" group. Since 1907 he lived permanently in Olszanka, a village on the edge of Puszcza Mariańska, near Skierniewice. He painted mainly realistic, atmospheric landscapes and genre scenes set in the landscape, as well as portraits and interiors. He cultivated graphic art (portfolios Z dawnej i niedawnej Warszawy and Pro memoria. Prusak in Poland), engaged in book illustration, and collaborated with Warsaw magazines, including Tygodnik Ilustrowanym, Wędrowiec, Świat and Biesiada Literacka.