Antoni MARKOWSKI (1878-1949), "Interior of the Wallachian Orthodox Church in Lviv," 1925

Etching from the "Graphic Portfolio," Lviv 1925, 14.8 x 11.2 cm, signed on engraving p.d.: A. Markowski. Lit. by Maria Grońska, "Graphics in a book, portfolio and album. Polskie wydawnictwa artystyczne i bibliofilskie z latach 1899-1945", Wrocław - Warsaw - Kraków: Zakł. Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1994, item 370. Graphics from the collection of a family living in Lviv before the war.

Painter and printmaker associated with Lviv's artistic community. Initially educated at the Warsaw Drawing Class, from 1904 to 1911 he continued his studies at the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts under J. Unierzyski, F. Ruszczyc, J. Stanislawski and J. Mehoffer. From 1907 to 1911 he was an assistant at the newly established Department of Graphic Arts under L. Wyczółkowski. In 1911 he settled in Lviv, where he taught and actively participated in the artistic life of the city. In 1932-33 he taught courses in printmaking in his own studio. During the war he stayed in the USSR (1940-41), from where he reached Iran with the army of General Anders, and then to Lebanon, where in Beirut he headed the chair of painting at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (1945-47). From 1948 he lived in London. Markowski's paintings are dominated by landscape themes, and as a printmaker he specialized in etching and lithography. Published in 1925, the artist's "Graphic Tekka" was printed on a hand press in 100 pieces. He recreated the historic architecture of Lviv, Tyniec and Gdansk on 14 plates.