Wojciech Gerson (1831 Warsaw - 1901 Warsaw), Landscape from Herzegovina, 1885

Origin
Desa Unicum, April 2013
private collection, Poland

Biography
He began his artistic studies at the Architecture Department of the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, but after just one year moved to the Painting Department, where he studied under Chrystian Breslauer, Marcin Zaleski and Jan Feliks Piwarski. He graduated from the school in 1851 with honors and received a two-year scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. There he was a student of the history painting class under A. T. Markov. In 1854 he also attended art theory classes taught by V. I. Grigorovich. During his two-year stay in Paris, he supplemented his painting studies in the studio of Leon Cogniet. After returning to Poland, he established his own studio in 1858. He contributed to the establishment of the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He maintained regular contacts with the St. Petersburg Academy, which awarded him the title of professor in 1878. He was an outstanding pedagogue - in 1872-96 he was the main professor of the Drawing Class in Warsaw, and his students were the most outstanding Polish painters of the 2nd half of the 19th century. He participated in many exhibitions in Europe and the United States. He was an extremely versatile artist - in addition to oil and watercolor painting, he also made fresco compositions and prepared illustrations. He painted landscapes, including views of the Tatra Mountains, historical scenes, portraits, and made many drawings of peasant types, which were used, among others, in the album 'Ubiory ludu polskiego', published in 1855.