Józef Czapski, FAMILY, 1964

8.0 x 14.9 cm - dry needle, paper

signed in pencil under the engraving l.: 6/10, p.: 1964 | J. Czapski, below dedication in ink: Mrs. Janina my | caregiver and benefactor J. Czapski

on the reverse, on the left margin, a sticker of the Gallery of Graphic Arts and Posters

Jozef Czapski (Prague 1896 - Maisons-Laffitte 1993) - painter, draughtsman, writer and publicist; initially studied law, then in 1918 trained at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. He interrupted his studies to go to Russia to search for missing Polish officers at the behest of Polish military authorities.

In 1920 he participated in the Polish-Bolshevik war. In 1923-1924 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. In 1924, together with a group of students of Jozef Pankiewicz, forming the so-called Paris Committee, he went to Paris for further studies, where he stayed until 1931. Upon his return to Poland, he participated in Capist exhibitions, including at the Warsaw Institute of Art Propaganda. A participant in the September campaign, a prisoner of, among others, the Starobielsk camp; freed from captivity, he joined the Anders Army and in 1941-1942 led the search for officers and soldiers imprisoned and missing in the USSR.

After 1944, he lived permanently in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris. He was one of the founders of the monthly magazine "Culture." As a writer, he published, among others, Oldobiel Memories, On Inhuman Earth and numerous essays on art. He painted landscapes, still lifes, interiors and, less frequently, portraits. In the 1980s and 1990s, the artist's paintings and drawings were exhibited several times in Krakow, Warsaw, and Poznan.

His painting - initially close to the Pankiewicz school, later very individual and expressive - is more widely presented in an album by Joanna Pollakówna (Czapski, Warsaw 1993).