Oil on hardboard
Poland / France, circa 1920
January Rubczak (1884-1942) – Polish painter in the tradition of the French school of Pont-Aven
Signed ‘Rubczak’ lower right
Exhibition: Salon Sztuki, Alfreda Wawrzeckiego, Kraków (verso with the label on the frame)
Ornamented and glazed original gilt frame
Overall dimensions, framed: 50.5 x 65.5 cm
Good condition
Provenance: Private Collection Austria
Painting in appealing colors depicting a small coastal town in the region of Saint-Tropez; Rubczak’s paintings of the Côte d'Azur fetch over 30,000 Euros on the international auction market

The present oil painting by Jan Rubczak (1884-1942) depicts a small Mediterranean bay with a couple of boats. A church and several houses rise in the background behind the beach. The vivid colors and the treatment of the subject show the influence of the school of Pont-Aven around the French painter Paul Gauguin. Rubczak did not seek the natural rendering of his subject but an intense composition of simplified forms and without superfluous details. The clear formal language and the understanding of color is reminiscent of the aesthetic of Synthetism.



This work was once exhibited at the studio of Alfreda Wawrzeckiego, Krakow, a so-called ‚Salon Sztuki’, a place for temporary exhibitions, similar to the exhibitions in the Salons of Paris.



The painting is overall in very good condition. The hardboard shows fine vertical tension cracks due to age. The work is signed lower right ‘Rubczak’. On the verso the frame bears an old exhibition label from the Salon Sztuki. The frame shows light losses along the edges. The framed work measures 50.5 x 65.5 cm, the hardboard measures 36 x 50 cm.



Jan Rubczak (1884-1942)

Jan Rubczak began his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, headed by Florian Cynk and Joseph Pankiewicza, which he attended in from 1904 to 1911. This was followed by studies at the Art Academy in Leipzig, then at the Académie Colarossi in Paris, where he settled in 1911. His work was promoted by the well-known Parisian art dealer Leopold Zborowski, who also had Modigliani under contract. Rubczak’s paintings were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants. He found his themes in the cities of Normandy and Brittany, in the South of France as well as on trips to Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Back in Krakow, he started teaching at the School of Painting and Drawing and created besides his paintings numerous prints, especially etchings and aquatints. In 1942 Jan Rubczak was murdered in Auschwitz.

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