Leon Wyczółkowski, FOR GOD'S WHOLE, 1901

125.0 x 115.0 cm - pastel, gouache, paper signed l.d.: Leon Wyczółkowski | 1901 | Krakow

On the reverse side a sticker of the Posthumous Exhibition of Leon Wyczółkowski in TPSP in Krakow in 1937 (print, typescript, stamp), which reads: Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Cracow | [193]7. No. 1085/328/ | Author Leon Wyczółkowski | Property of [Dr. W]ernikowski | Work for Corpus Christi | Execution pastel | price.... On the sticker, the stamp: POSTER EXHIBITION | LEONA WYCZÓŁKOWSKI.

Provenance:

The painting, along with two other works by Wyczółkowski, was lent to a posthumous exhibition from the collection of Dr. Wiktor Wernikowski (?-1941), a Cracow physician-dentist who resided at 6 Market Square.



The painting reproduced and described:

- Leon Wyczółkowski. Posthumous Exhibition, June-July 1937, Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Cracow, p. 31, cat. no. 329 (owned by Dr. Wiktor Wernikowski).



Looking at Wyczółkowski's pastels, at his bold and luminous treatment of color, observing how the subtleties of color are brought out under a skilled hand (...) we have no doubt that we are looking at the work of a genius. The persistence and patience with which he approached workshop issues resulted in a perfect mastery of the pigment structure, taking into account chalk fillers and their binders. (...) Being a plastic genius, he moved with almost bravado in the richness of his subject matter.

R. Konik, Leon Wyczółkowski. Portrait of a painter, published by Take Care, Bydgoszcz 2019, pp. 168-170.

After 1900, Wyczółkowski abandoned oil painting in favor of pastel. Even contemporary critics considered him one of the most outstanding Polish artists using this technique. They emphasized his excellent mastery of the technique, his taste in the choice of colors, and above all his bravura use of the color spot. As Piotr P. Czyz writes, the artist initially operated with jittery, multicolored, intermingling lines, to lay down pastel with a wide stain with a freedom close to oil painting (Masters of Pastel. From Marteau to Witkacy. Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, cat. exhibition, ed. schol. Anna Grochala, National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 2015, p. 458).

Wyczółkowski's favorite subjects included portraits, self-portraits, flowers and landscapes. Genre scenes appear rarely. Hence the composition For Corpus Christi, exhibited at his posthumous exhibition and still known only from archival photography, must be considered a collector's rarity, which will probably be counted among the most important pastels of the master of this technique.

Leon Wyczółkowski (Huta Miastkowska near Siedlce 1852 - Warsaw 1936) - painter, graphic artist and educator, was one of the most outstanding Polish artists creating at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He began his artistic studies at the Warsaw Drawing Class under Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kaminski (1869-1873), then continued them at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts under Aleksander Wagner (1875-1877), in Cracow under Jan Matejko (1877/78) and during two trips to Paris (1878 and 1889). After his studies, he settled in Lviv and later moved to Warsaw. He spent the years 1883-1893 traveling in Ukraine and Podolia. In 1895 he moved to Cracow appointed as a lecturer at the School of Fine Arts there. In the following years he traveled extensively - to Italy, France, Spain, Holland, England. He was one of the founding members of the Society of Polish Artists "Art". He exhibited a lot both at home and abroad. He spent the years 1929-1936 in Poznań and Gościeradz, commuting to Warsaw, where (from 1934) he held the chair of graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts. He painted landscapes, portraits, genre scenes, still lifes and flowers. He readily used pastel and watercolor techniques, was an accomplished printmaker, and was also involved in sculpture.