Lot 5: JOZEF CHELMONSKI

FOUR HORSE WAGON ON A RAINY DAY
signed JOZEF CHELMONSKI and dated 1885 (lower left)

18 by 30 1/2 in. 45.7 by 77.4 cm

oil on canvas

Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York (lent by Mrs. Mieczkowski)

Mrs. Constantine Mieczkowski, New York

Born in Boczki, a small village near Lowicz in central Poland, Chelmonski learned basic drawing technique from his father. At the age of thirteen, he began training with Wojciech Gerson at the Warsaw School of Drawing and--thanks to the assistance of fellow Polish artist Josef Brandt--continued his studies at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. In 1875 Chelmonski left for Paris where he developed an impressive international reputation through the promotional efforts of his dealer Alphonse Goupil. By the late nineteenth century, Chelmonski's compositions were eagerly sought by many prominent British and American collectors who appreciated the artist's depictions of Polish peasant life--particularly the dynamic compositions of fast-moving, rugged wagons like that depicted in the Four Horse Wagon on a Rainy Day. While the artist's palette and subtle handling of paint suggest the Impressionists' influence, Chelmonski is best considered a realist painter, interested in capturing the natural effects of heavy horses' hooves as they pound through puddles, or the vastness of the cold, grey sky surrounding the riding group. After years of international travel and painting scenes of his native country while (ironically) abroad, Chelmonski's homesickness prompted his return to Poland where, for the remainder of his life, he turned to lyrical landscapes populated by birds or animals or large-scale iconic works of symbolic works of man's connection to the land (Nineteenth Century Polish Painting, exh. cat., New York, 1988, pp. 17, 114).