Landscape

The work and artistic activity of Tadeusz Pruszkowski shaped the language of official and academic art of the Second Republic of Poland. Due to his preferred subject matter – metaphorical and symbolic references to old toposes and imagery, as well as his developed style rooted in the conventions of old art – both in his studio at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts and through the activity of artistic groups (e.g., Brotherhood of St. Luke) – Pruszkowski propagated the idea of technical mastery. Plein-air workshops for students, which he led from 1923 in Kazimierz Dolny, initiated the creation of an important artistic colony. They encouraged the search for scenery for symbolic imagery in familiar landscapes, referring to Renaissance portrait studies and allegorical representations in the spirit of Dutch realism. Among others, A. Michalak and J. Wydra were associated with Pruszkowski's studio, introducing the Kazimierz landscape into the repertoire of painting studies.

Apart from didactic work and large-format historical representations, in the 1920s Pruszkowski made plein-air studies, which were somewhat on the side-lines of his basic artistic programme. They rather corresponded to direct observation and modern compositional solutions. A bravely painted landscape from 1920 combines an oblique path of a road framed by vegetation with a vast mass of blue sky towering over the composition. The painting bears testimony to a sketchy, hasty grasp of the relations between forms and colours – it is at the same time the result of an extremely sensitive reproduction and interpretation of nature by means of brush strokes bringing out natural shapes. Pruszkowski's painting harmonises the colours very carefully, also giving an insight into the process of shaping the painting matter. Following in the footsteps of Cézanne and Pankiewicz, Pruszkowski reveals a dialogue between the observation of nature and its painterly transformation. The landscape, painted in a modern style, shows another dimension of the artist's work as a joyful and spontaneous encounter with the landscape and a testimony to his painting skills.

Plein-air painting workshops organised by Pruszkowski proved to be an opportunity not only for the realisation of the academic programme, but also an expression of the application of a modern painting technique.