Wyczólkowski, Leon

Born Apr. 11, 1852, in HutaMiastkowska; died Dec. 27, 1936, in Warsaw. Polish painter and graphic artist.

Wyczółkowski studied at the Drawing Class in Warsaw (1869-73) under W. Gerson, at the Academy of Arts in Munich (1875-77), and at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow (1877-79) under J. Matejko. Wyczółkowski taught at the Academy of Arts in Krakow (beginning in 1895) and in Warsaw (from 1934). During the years 1883-93 he lived in the Ukraine. He painted portraits, landscapes, and genre compositions depicting scenes of peasant labor. In his paintings he utilized the devices of impressionism, for example, The Fishermen (1891), Digging Beets (c. 1895), and Plowing (1903)—all in the National Museum, Warsaw. Wyczółkowski’s watercolors and lithographs, with their soft gradations of light and shadow, played an important role in the development of Polish graphic art of the 20th century.