Martin Kitz (1891-1943), "Rural Backyard," 1934

oil, cardboard, 24.5 x 39.5 cm
Signed p.d.: M. Kitz 934.
On the back author's inscription with the date: (text illegible) 2/IX/34.

Painter and printmaker associated with the artistic milieu of Lviv. He studied in Lviv under Stanisław Rejchan and Stanisław Kaczor-Batowski, and continued his studies under Ignacy Pieńkowski at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He completed his studies in Berlin under Maks Liebermann, and in Munich and Vienna. He traveled to France, Spain, Holland and Italy. Between 1939 and 1941 he briefly stayed in Moscow. In 1940 he took part in exhibitions in Moscow, Kyiv and Kharkiv. He exhibited his works at the Lwow and Cracow TPSP, and the TZSP in Warsaw, among others. He had numerous solo exhibitions in his native Lviv. The subjects of his works were landscapes, genre scenes, still lifes, portraits, painted freely with broad brushstrokes, stylistically referring to the achievements of Impressionism. In 1943 in Lviv, he was arrested and murdered for hiding Jews.