Wacław Piotrowski

Wacław Piotrowski, a Polish portraitist, landscape painter, and draftsman first studied drawing at the School of Drawing at the Theatre Square, and then, from 1907-11, painting at the Warszawa School of Fine Arts. Eventually he also studied sculpture. From 1919-22 Piotrowski lived in France, mainly in Paris, where he participated in exhibitions (salons), organized by the “Société des Artistes Français” and “Société Nationale des Beaux Arts”, among others, in the “Salon d’Automne” in 1920.

Piotrowski produced oil paintings, watercolor landscapes, and pen sketches. He was mainly a portraitist, painting numerous portraits of the poor – janitors, messengers, laundresses, and residents of Warszawa dormitories. He also produced several portraits of Polish sports people.

The oil painting Na płotku (Over the Hurdle) shows the Polish hurdler and two-time Olympian Stefan Kostrzweski, while the 1928 charcoal drawing depicts discus gold medalist Halina Konopacka. The painting of the hurdler (oil on canvas, 135 x 98 cm) was created in 1928 and is kept in Warszawa in the Museum of Sport and Tourism. It was based on a photo that appeared on the cover of the sports magazine “Stadion”. Probably the same applies to the drawing Portret Haliny Konopackiej, which, however, was less naturalistic. He highlighted the motor skills in the movement of the athlete and the put was aestheticized like a ballet. The whereabouts of the drawing are unknown.