Red hill. Chełsty

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 case of other artists of the Young Poland movement, an important role was played by folklore and the fascination with native folklore, which was an expression of respect for the hard work of peasants observed in the fields, hauling wood, harvesting or fishing. Kędzierski was equally fond of landscapes, and the tone of reflection and reverie he felt in his depictions of nature reveals the artist's 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. Rude wzgórze [Rude Hill], painted in this technique, was created during his stay in the Chełmno region, on the estate of Kazimierz Życki in Chełsty near Brodnica, where the artist arrived in 1921. The painting betrays an inspiration with Japanese aesthetics, which had a significant impact on the painting of Young Poland. It is visible in the structure of the painting were Kędzierski used a trick frequent in his paintings, consisting in using a fragmentary frame captured from a lowered point of view. The autumn landscape is seen through an openwork screen of leafless, flexible branches, which form decorative linear arrangements close to Art Nouveau. The Far Eastern provenance is also revealed by the sparing use of means - a skilful synthesis of forms and a well-thought-out colour scheme dominated by muted tones of brown and black. The artist has sparingly accented them with the yellows of the leaves and dimmed bluish ferns, which reveal his colour sensitivity.

Anna Hałata