Witold PRUSZKOWSKI (1846-1896), Country Boy, 1884

woodcut, paper, 30 x 21 cm (clear passe-partout), 50 x 40 cm (passe-partout); signed and dated on panel p. d.: Witold Pruszkowski / 1884

Witold Pruszkowski - Polish painter and draughtsman.Witold Pruszkowski was born in Bershad, spent his childhood in Odessa and Kiev. He studied painting and drawing initially in Paris with Tadeusz Gorecki, son-in-law of Adam Mickiewicz. In 1868-1872 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (he enrolled in the Antikenklasse on May 14, 1868),[1] and in 1872-1875 with Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow. In 1882 he settled in Mników near Cracow. Together with his brother, he traveled in Algiers, Tunisia and Italy. He regularly exhibited his works in Cracow, Warsaw and Lvov. In 1892 he became chairman of the committee to build a monument to Arthur Grottger.He painted rural genre scenes, paintings with themes from fairy tales, legends and folk beliefs, combining realistic representation with romantic fantasy and moodiness, as well as poetic visions inspired by the works of Słowacki, Krasiński and Chopin, and subtle, melancholic landscapes. He created insightful and unconventional portraits. In addition to oil technique, he used pastels.