Dimensions: 98 x 135 cm
Signed l.d.: 'A. v. Wierusz-Kowalski'
historical titles: Gefährliche Fahrt, Überfall der Wölfe auf einen durch abendliche Schneelandschaft jagenden Schlitten
on the painter's loom auction stickers, described on the frame: 'GROOT 017'
Origins
Rudolph Lepke Art Salon, Berlin, November 20, 1928 (under the title "Überfall der Wölfe auf einen durch abendliche Schneelandschaft jagenden Schlitten")
private collection, Germany
Kunsthaus Peiffer, Dusseldorf, 1972
private collection, Europe
Christie's, Amsterdam, November 2011
private collection, Poland
Literature
"Über Land und Meer" 1895, p. 472 (ill. as "Gefährliche Fahrt")
Biography
He began his artistic education at the Warsaw Drawing Class, where he studied from 1865 under Rafał Hadziewicz, Aleksander Kamiński and Wojciech Gerson. He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, where he went in 1871, and in Prague in 1872. on October 18. 1873 he enrolled at the Munich Academy (Malschule) and studied there under Alexander Wagner. In 1874 he moved to the studio of Josef Brandt. The success he gained in a short time on the art market caused him to settle in Munich permanently. He exhibited at Glaspalast, where he won a second-class medal at international exhibitions in 1883 and a first-class medal in 1892. He was an active participant in the life of the Polish art colony in Munich. Together with Jozef Brandt and Wladyslaw Czachórski, he chaired the society for joint assistance in supporting young artists established by the Polish community in 1894. In 1890 he received the title of honorary member of the Munich Academy. He rarely left Munich - except for trips to his native land. Around 1897 he bought the Mikorzyn estate near Konin, where he stayed whenever he came to the country). In 1903 he toured North Africa in search of new motifs for his paintings.
He participated in numerous international exhibitions, most notably in Munich, Berlin and Vienna, where he won a gold medal in 1894. He also presented his works at national exhibitions at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where his solo exhibitions were held in 1892 and 1908, and at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Cracow, in 1893, 1895-96 and 1898-1900, as well as at the Salon of Aleksander Krywult. The painter's artistic achievements were popularized by illustrated magazines posting woodcut reproductions of his drawings and paintings - they appeared from 1894 mainly in the pages of "Kłosy", "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" and many foreign magazines. The painter's work was dominated by genre scenes from the life of the Polish countryside, Polish manor houses and small towns. The most common motif of these paintings was the horse, strongly associated with man, depicted in a rural landscape, usually in winter. Compositions with the motif of a wolf, depicted in a nocturnal, winter landscape, or whole wattle attacking horses and travelers in sleighs, repeated in various variants and formats, were the most popular among the public and image dealers. Hunting scenes are also frequent in Wierusz-Kowalski's artistic output. The painter's paintings are in the collections of the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, museums in Dresden, Königsberg, Antwerp, Berlin and the United States, among others.
