Leonard PĘKALSKI (1896-1944), Portrait of a niece, 1930s.

Watercolor, cardboard; 50 x 36 cm.
Lettered "Leonard Pękalski 1896-1944" [catalog of monographic exhibition], Warsaw 1969, item 360 - here as the property of the artist's sister.
Studied at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1913-18) under Edward Trojanowski. From 1923 he was an assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, from 1928 at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and from 1932 a professor of decorative painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He co-founded the Artists' Guild "Jednoróg" and "Pryzmat". He painted still lifes, portraits, figural compositions and landscapes. Influenced by the work of F. S. Kowarski, with whom he became friends in 1922, his painting, previously formative, began to be characterized by classicism and monumentalism, particularly evident in figural compositions. From 1925, he participated in the restoration of the Wawel Castle, conserving and creating new wall paintings.