Jan Walach, Hutsul violinist

oil, canvas pasted on cardboard, size 49 x 33 cm

Jan Walach (1884 - 1979), this now somewhat forgotten artist, painter, sculptor and wood engraver went through a path in the early 20th century that many artists starting their careers today can only dream of. A simple highlander from the Silesian Beskids, to which he remained faithful throughout his life, he received a thorough education and professional preparation. Through the Zakopane School of Arts and Crafts, closest to where he lived, he made his way to Krakow and the Academy of Fine Arts there, where he studied in the studios of such masters as Julian Fałat, Józef Mehoffer, Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Jan Stanisławski. Between 1908 and 1910, he consolidated his artistic experience at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Upon his return, he became permanently associated with Beskid and Istebna, where he continued to create until the end of his days, leaving behind an abundant painting and graphic legacy, as well as numerous painting projects in the churches of the Żywiec region. Although he remained on the sidelines of major artistic trends for years, his exhibitions in the interwar period were well received and established his position as a painter of mainly mountain landscapes and an astute observer of local life and customs and human types - the highlanders, who were his most frequent models. Although he was sometimes accused of having an academic and not very modern creative manner, it is impossible to deny his proficiency as a painter and his important place among artists for whom the mountains and the highlands were a constant inspiration. He is still popular among mountain lovers and is valued for his painterly accounts documenting them faithfully. The work signed in verso at the bottom right "Jan Wallach".