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

woodcut, paper, 30 x 21 cm (inside the mat), signed and dated on the plate, lower right: Witold Pruszkowski 1884

Witold Pruszkowski—Polish painter and draftsman.Witold Pruszkowski was born in Berszad and spent his childhood in Odessa and Kyiv. He initially studied painting and drawing in Paris under Tadeusz Gorecki, the son-in-law of Adam Mickiewicz. From 1868 to 1872, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (on May 14, 1868, he enrolled in the Antikenklasse)[1], and from 1872 to 1875 under Jan Matejko at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków. In 1882, he settled in Mników near Kraków. Together with his brother, he traveled through Algeria, Tunisia, and Italy. He regularly exhibited his works in Kraków, Warsaw, and Lviv. In 1892, he became chairman of the committee for the construction of the Artur Grottger monument. He painted rural genre scenes, works based on fairy tales, legends, and folk beliefs—combining a realistic style with romantic fantasy and atmosphere—as well as poetic visions inspired by the works of Słowacki, Krasiński, and Chopin, as well as subtle, melancholic landscapes. He created insightful and unconventional portraits. In addition to oil painting, he worked with pastels.