Winter in East

Julian Fałat was an artist who played a crucial role as a co-creator of the reform of the Kraków Academy. In 1895, the artist became the director of the School of Fine Arts, and from 1905 he held the position of rector. He initiated a new chapter in Polish art education, which was crowned by the Academy of Fine Arts establishment in 1900. It was he who offered professorships to a group of the most outstanding Modernists: Józef Mehoffer, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Pankiewicz, Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Jan Stanisławski, Leon Wyczółkowski and Stanisław Wyspiański. He was a member of the Society of Polish Artists Art. In 1910 he retired and moved permanently to his estate in Bystra in Cieszyn Silesia. In the years 1919-1921, he lived in Toruń. In 1922-1923, he held the post of director of the Art Department in the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment. Then he settled down again in Bystra. Julian Fałat was one of the leading representatives of landscape and genre painting of the Young Poland period, known as a master of watercolours. One of the frequent themes of his works were winter views. Zima na wschodzie [Winter in the East] (1919) is a relatively late watercolour representing Impressionist tendencies. It shows an interesting attempt to use light, among other things, to emphasise the figures riding a sleigh. The painting is an excellent example of the artist's ease with the difficult medium of watercolour, which does not lend itself easily to correction and produces effects not entirely predictable by the artist.

Beata Małgorzata Wolska