Aleksander Mroczkowski (1850–1927), *Włodarz*, 1881

lithograph, paper, 28.3 x 20 cm (inside frame), signed on the plate, lower right: AM.
This work was created specifically for a portfolio published by the Artistic and Literary Circle in Kraków in 1881, whose aim was to raise funds for the reconstruction of the Croatian capital—Zagreb—which had been struck by an earthquake the previous year.

The lithograph was produced in 1881 at Aureliusz Pruszyński’s Artistic Lithography Workshop at 17 Pijarska Street in Kraków, founded in 1873. Many artists, including the Wyczółkowski family, were able to produce their own prints here.

Aureliusz Pruszyński (September 9, 1847, Kasinka Mała, Limanowa County – April 22, 1904, Kraków), a Kraków-based lithographer and owner of the renowned Aureliusz Pruszyński Artistic Lithography Workshop in Kraków, founded in 1873 at 17 Pijarska Street; from around 1902, the studio was owned by his son Zenon Pruszyński (see SAP, vol. 8, pp. 92–93). At A. Pruszyński’s studio, from the late 19th century onward, leading Kraków artists had their graphic works (including posters) printed using the lithography technique, among them the famous “Melpomene’s Portfolio”

Aleksander Mroczkowski (November 19 or November 25, 1850, Kraków – August 26, 1927, Stubno, Przemyśl County), painter. He studied from 1865 to 1873 at the Kraków School of Fine Arts (SSP) under the guidance of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Feliks Szynalewski, and Leon Dembowski; from 1873 to 1877, he studied at the Munich Academy, and then again at the SSP from 1877 to 1881 in Jan Matejko’s studio. He spent the years 1882–1888 in Munich; in 1890, he settled in Kraków, and around 1920, he moved to Stubno. While studying in Kraków, he traveled throughout the province and painted genre scenes, landscapes, and portraits. Later, he also painted polychromes, religious paintings, and watercolors, and continued to enjoy painting landscapes, often of the Tatra Mountains. He exhibited his works regularly at the Society of Friends of Fine Arts (TPSP) in Kraków from 1875, in Lviv, and in Warsaw from 1884 to 1906; see SAP, vol. 5, pp. 654–655.