Carting of wood

Apoloniusz Kędzierski (1861-1939) studied at the Warsaw Drawing Class under Aleksander Kamiński and Wojciech Gerson. As a pupil of Józef Brandt, he was a frequent visitor to Orońsko, the estate which belonged to the artist. Thanks to Brandt's financial support, he continued his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1889, he settled in Warsaw and became actively involved in the artistic life of the country. In Kędzierski's painting, as in the works of other artists of the Young Poland movement, an important role was played by folklore and fascination with the native folklore, which was an expression of respect for the hard work of peasants, observed in the fields, hauling wood, harvesting or fishing. The landscape motif in Kędzierski's paintings was combined with a close observation of the realities of rural life; the tone of reflection and reverie about the beauty of the native landscape reveals an emotional attitude to nature and the surrounding reality. As a mature artist, Kędzierski appreciated the properties of watercolour, which offered the possibility of quickly recording outdoor studies. Following this technique, Zwózka drewna [Wood Carriage] reveals the artist's sensitivity to colour and his knowledge of the achievements of Impressionist painting, which he could see and admire during an exhibition in Munich in 1888. The luminous qualities of natural light, which glides across the artist's painted surfaces in diffused reflections, become an important element in the scene. Kędzierski evokes peasants at work hauling wood, who, driving horse-drawn carts filled to the brim, seem to be an immanent part of nature - fully in harmony with the surrounding scenery of the forest, the country road located by the water, merged with the background compositionally and colouristically.

Anna Hałata