woodcut, paper, 44x32.5 cm (sheet size), signed on the matrix ld monogram MS and pencil on the underside: StefMrożewski
The woodcut comes from a luxury edition of Marcel Schwob's work "Le Roi au masque d'or" (The King in the Golden Mask), published in Paris in 1929, in an edition of only 100 pieces, for which the artist prepared 8 graphics at the special request of the publisher. These illustrations are counted among Mrożewski's best works. In 1929, at the Universal National Exhibition (PWK) in Poznań, in the illustrated book section, he received a silver medal for them.
Literature: The Wizard of the Pencil. Exhibition for the hundred and tenth anniversary of Stefan Mrożewski's birth 1894-1975, collective work edited by Teresa Trusewicz, Warsaw 2004.
Stefan Mrożewski - painter, wood engraver and well-known illustrator. He studied at the State School of Decorative Arts in Poznań, painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow and graphic art under Władysław Skoczylas at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. In 1925 he went to Paris and lived there and in Belgium, Italy and England until 1939. During the occupation he stayed in Poland. After the war, he settled in California. He was a member of the "Ryt" grouping. Before the war he was mainly involved in woodcuts, later also in mural painting and ceramics.
