sign. p.d.: R. OKNIÑSKI
on the reverse a sticker of an exhibition at the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts(stamp, print, ink): 8473 Author: Okniński Ryszard | Jarmark w małem miasteczku | Price 200 - date sent. 20 X 192[?]
on frame Agra-Art auction stickers from 1996 and 2020.
Fairin a Small Town is a relatively early work by the artist, in its realistic depiction of a poor but lively Polish town, bearing clear traces of the "Munich school."
Bibliography:
- Posthumous exhibition of works by the late Ryszard Okninski, [in]: Guide No. XV to the Exhibition of the TZSP, Warsaw 1926, p. 14, no. 144;
- Poland and its people in painting XIX and XX century, Guide 95 TZSP, Warsaw 1934, p. 23, no. 144.
Ryszard Okniński studied at the Warsaw Drawing Class under Wojciech Gerson, and then from 1878 at the Munich Academy under Otto Seitz and Alexander Wagner. After returning to Poland, he lived in Lublin for a few years, and from 1886 in Warsaw. He was a realist painter - he painted paintings illustrating episodes from the January Uprising, historical and battlefield paintings, genre scenes from village life, hunting scenes and very numerous portraits. His works were often reproduced in the Warsaw magazines "Kłosy", "Świecie" and "Tygodnik Ilustrowany". He was involved in photography and was one of the pioneers of Polish press photography.
