Alfred Swieykowski (1869-1953)
Winter Landscape from Upper Savoy
oil on canvas, framed
dimensions: 39 × 55 cm (in light), 46 × 63 cm (with frame)
signed: p.d. "A. Swieykowski"
state of preservation: very good
frame: contemporary, classical style
Atmospheric winter landscape by Alfred Swieykowski, an outstanding Polish-French painter associated with the environment of the Parisian art salons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The work shows an alpine landscape of Upper Savoy - with the white of the snow broken by the cool blues of the mountain ranges and the strong outline of dark pines in the foreground.
The composition is maintained in an impressionistic convention - with clear impastos, a vivid palette and free treatment of space and light. Typical of Svyakovsky here are rhythmic horizontal divisions and soft juxtapositions of blues, browns and creamy whites.
Alfred Swieykowski (1869-1953) - son of a Polish émigré, educated at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Ferdinand Cormon. He exhibited at the Salons of French Artists (1894-1921) and at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, with which he became affiliated in 1927. He was awarded a gold medal in 1937. He painted landscapes of France (Paris, Normandy, the Alps), still lifes, portraits and interiors. In his later period, his painting moved closer to impressionism and fauvism.
