Dimensions: 125 x 176 cm
Signed and dated p.d.: 'JÓZEF CHEŁMOŃSKI | 1884'
other historical titles: Le carnaval en Pologne, Kulig, Kulig krakowski, Kulig polski, Polish Wedding, Wesele krakowskie, Zapusty w Polsce;
on the reverse on the loom a paper sticker Richard Green Gallery
Condition
compiled by Tadeusz Matuszczak dated September 22, 2025.
Origins
collection of Edward Bernard Raczynski (1891-1993) diplomat, writer and politician, and his family, Cracow-London, to late 1940s.
collection of Antoni Maryanowski, well-known arms expert and collector, London-Newark, at least since 1951
canvas deposit at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York
collection of Jan Kamienski (1923-2010), painter, illustrator, journalist, Toronto, Canada, ca. 1960 (?)
Richard Green Gallery, London, from 1977
Sotheby's, London, July 2024
private collection, Poland
Exhibited
Salon, Paris, 1884
Austro-Hungarian Art and Industry Exhibition, Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, 1899
The Fifth Annual Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists of Polish Descent jointly with Selected Polish Paintings from 1793 to 1939, Kosciuszko Foundation, New York, 1951
Józef Chelmonski 1848-1914, National Museum in Poznan, March 7, 2025 - July 13, 2025
Literature
Kronika paryska literacka, naukowa i artystyczna, "Biblioteka Warszawska" 1884, vol. 3, p. 280 (mentioned as "Kulig")
From Paris, "Daily Courier," 1884, no. 170, pp. 2-3
Polish artists at the Paris exhibition 1884 (Salon), "Kurier Polski w Paryżu" 1884, no. 12, p. 2
Opening of the Paris "Salon". Paris April 30, "Kurier Poranny," 1884, no. 124, pp. 2-3
Le Figaro, 1884, no. 75, p. 2 (mentioned)
Edward Lubowski, Paris News. Paris in May and June 1884, "Ivy," 1884, no. 24, pp. 191-192
Edgar Nekanda-Trepka, Paris Chronicle. Paris, June 6, "Kłosy" 1886, no. 1097, pp. 31-32
Nemo, La France chevaline au Salon de 1884, "La France chevaline" 1884, no. 20, pp. 2-4
Zygmunt Sarnecki, The studios of Polish artists in Paris. III. Józef Chelmonski, "Biesiada Literacka" 1884, no. 431 (1884), p. 218.
Zygmunt Sarnecki, Art, science and literature in France. Letters of the present moment, "Słowo" 1884, no. 178, pp. 1-2
Exhibition of fine arts in Paris. II. Polish artists, "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" 1884, no. 73, pp. 332-333
Catalog of the exhibition in the Parisian "Salon",1884, p. 47, cat. no. 517
Hunting exhibition, "Kurier Warszawski" 1899, no. 106, pp. 1-2
[Franciszek Olszewski], From St. Petersburg. D. Dec. 6, "Kurier Warszawski" 1899, no. 340, pp. 6-7
Antoni Bohdanowicz, Anna Bilińska, Warsaw 1928, p. 82
Exhibition of Polish Painters at the Kosciuszko Foundation, exhibition catalog, New York 1951, pp. 5-7, cat. no. 5
Maciej Masłowski, Malarski Żywot Józefa Chełmońskiego, Warsaw 1972 (2nd ed.).
Tadeusz Matuszczak, Józef Chełmoński, Cracow 2003, p. 12
Tadeusz Matuszczak, Józef Chełmoński "Czwórka". The first public showing of the painting in Poland, Radziejowice 2009, p. 12
Elżbieta Charazińska, Musical tonalities in the painting of Józef Chełmoński [in:] Chełmoński-Kolberg. Sources and Inspirations. Exhibition from the collections of the Museum in Łowicz, edited by Justyna Stolarska, Agnieszka Banasikowa, exhibition catalog, Radziejowice 2014, pp. 10-18
Eliza Ptaszyńska, Wilki, panny i grajkowie... A comparative analysis of Polish Munich painting in the 19th century on the example of the works of Chełmoński and Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski, "Bulletin of Art History" 2014, no. 4, pp. 597-613
Józef Chełmoński 1849-1914, exhibition catalog, vol. 2, ed. by Ewa Micke-Broniarek, Wojciech Głowacki, Warsaw 2024, pp. 162-163, cat. no. 124 (ill.)
Ryszard J. Kluszczyński, Józef Chełmoński. Return from the Ball, 1873. a recovered masterpiece, Kraków 2025, p. 15 (ill.)
Biography
In 1867-71 he studied painting at the Drawing Class and at Wojciech Gerson's private studio in Warsaw. In 1871-74 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he was associated with the Polish artistic colony centered around Jozef Brandt and Maksymilian Gierymski. A formative moment for Chelmonski's work was his travels to Podolia and Ukraine (1872 and 1874-75). Until 1887 he lived in Paris, where his paintings were very popular. He then returned to Poland, settling in Kuklówka near Grodzisk Mazowiecki. He was one of the most outstanding Polish landscape painters of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He painted realistic and atmospheric in character landscapes and genre scenes inspired by Mazovian or borderland nature. Chelmonski's paintings are in the most important public collections in Poland, as well as European and American private collections.
