Eugene ARCT (1899-1974), Locomotive, 1940s

Woodcut, paper , 13 x 15 cm in light passe-partout;

Eugeniusz Arct - Polish painter, educator. Beginning in 1918, he studied painting for two years at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Lucerne under J. van Moos, and continued his studies from 1923 to 1930 at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts under Tadeusz Pruszkowski. He received his diploma in 1936. After graduating in 1930, he remained at the school, working as an assistant. At the same time he was creating, he exhibited his works with the so-called "Warsaw School", which he co-initiated. This group brought together painters whose works alluded in style to late French Impressionism (bright, overexposed colors, contemporary subjects, but approached with humor). He also exhibited his works at the Institute of Social Policy at Warsaw University and at exhibitions organized by the so-called Block of Professional Artists. Many exhibitions of his works took place abroad, where paintings were purchased for museum collections. In 1946 he became a lecturer at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1950 he was awarded the title of professor. He mostly painted still lifes and landscapes of the Kazimierz Dolny area, Szczawnica, and after 1945 Warsaw and its urban landscape became his main subject. The depicted places are shown in colorful, jittery contours, which can be safely described as very close to impressionism.