Description
Oil, canvas; 83.5 x 72.5 cm
Signed p.d.: Unierzyski / 1943.
Asking price 19550
Estimate 24000 - 30000
Józef UNIERZYSKI
1863 Milewo - 1948 Cracow
Painter; creator of sacred, historical and allegorical paintings, also portraitist of the academism trend. Initially (from 1880) he was a pupil of Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kaminski at the Warsaw Drawing Class. In 1883 he received a scholarship from the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw, which enabled him to go to Rome and study at the so-called Scuola Liberta at the Academy of Fine Arts there. Having returned to Poland, he continued his education under Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow. He graduated with a gold medal. In 1891 he married Helena (1867-1932), Matejko's eldest daughter. In 1898 the two settled in Bolen near Krakow, in their own newly built manor house. From 1889 he was an assistant at the drawing department of the School of Fine Arts, and in 1892 was appointed professor. Despite his retirement in 1909, he still taught evening drawing courses during the 1915/16 academic year. He painted portraits, paintings with historical and allegorical motifs and, above all, religious themes. His early painting The Removal from the Cross (1887; MNK) drew widespread public and critical attention. The artist remained faithful to religious themes, creating large-format paintings for churches - images of saints, Stations of the Cross, a series of "Marian" paintings for St. Mary's Church in Katowice (1928-1930).
