Alexander Lashenko (1883-1944), Breath of the Desert, 1937

Color woodcut; size: 420 x 240 mm; signed l. d.: A Laszenko, p. d.: woodcut 1937.

Graphic from the "Eastern portfolio". Framed work. Lit. by K. Kotula, Aleksander Laszenko, Wloclawek 1992, item 62, p. 17.

Painter, printmaker, traveler; studied painting and Oriental studies in St. Petersburg, Cairo and Luxor; traveled extensively, in Japan he learned the technique of multicolor woodcut, almost every year he traveled to North Africa, he was fascinated especially by Egypt - its history and daily life, he was friends with the British Egyptologist H. Carter, discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb; in 1918 he returned to Poland; he painted landscapes, mainly of oriental themes (Young Arab with donkeys at a watering hole, ca. 1903; Oasis of Biskoa, 1931; Ruins of an ancient city, n.d.) and portraits, especially of women of exotic beauty (Ben Brahim's Daughter, 1938).

In addition to painting, he practiced printmaking, mainly color woodcuts (in 1936 he published a printmaking portfolio in which he presented Eastern themes and motifs); his woodcuts were very popular; he participated in many domestic and foreign exhibitions.