On this day January 31 we remember Jozef Rapacki, one of the most noted and nostalgic Polish painters.
Born March 19, 1871, in Warsaw, Rapacki died Jan. 31, 1929. At the early age of 14, Jozef Rapacki started drawing lessons under Wojciech Gerson (one of the foremost representatives of Polish School of Realism during the foreign partitions of Poland) in Warsaw. Rapacki went on to study at the Krakow Fine Arts Academy and it was in this early phase of his career that Rapacki fell under the "plein air" manner, that is a primarily outdoor style of painting landscapes and city views. Jozef Rapacki culminated his education at the Munich Fine Arts Academy. By 1889, his landscape painting strongly reflected the Munich School. His heart however was embedded in his native Mazovia province of Poland. Mazovia, a historical region in mid-northeastern Poland, spanning the north European plain, roughly covers the area between Lodz, Bialystok with Warsaw as the crux, at the crossroads of this province. Here Jozef Rapacki created the most sensitive and personal works of art which reflected the beauty of villages like Olszanka, local churches and surrounding countryside. The typical Mazovian sandy flatlands flourishing with weeping willows and birch trees provided ample backgrounds for Rapacki's creations. The leading Warsaw newspapers published his pastel drawings. His favorite dwelling place was in fact Olszanka-a Mazovian village near Lodz, where he built his artistic home and atelier. Jozef Rapacki's most famous masterpieces incl. "Gooseherd"(pol.Gesiarka),"Winter landscape"(1908) and many other works offer an illusionistic, broad perspective, while paintings like "Self-portrait in the garden" evoke Impressionism accents. After the artist's untimely death at 58, much of his art was deposited at Zacheta- an Association for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Please come and see our PMA unbelievably rich Fine arts Collection, incl. breathtaking landscapes and masterpieces which will take you on a journey through virgin nature rich, beautiful Poland!
B. Czerkawski
Photo displays PMA painting collection's Church in Olszanka by Jozef Rapacki, oil on canvas, 1916.
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