Jan SZCZEPKOWSKI, TADZIO

Patinated plaster, 33.5 x 25.5 cm, signed below: Szczepkowski 1903.

Sculptor and woodcarver, educated at the Wood Industry School in Zakopane (1892-1896), continued his study of sculpture in Cracow with A. Daun and K. Laszczka, he studied painting under J. Malczewski. In 1902 he took over the artistic management of the majolica department of the "J. Niedzwiecki i S-ka" faience factory in Krakow's Debniki district. In 1907 he went to Paris on a scholarship, where he definitively abandoned ceramics to devote himself to monumental sculpture and woodcarving. He participated in frontline combat during World War I, and in 1917 settled in Warsaw, where he worked at the local SSP, and later at the Municipal School of Decorative Arts. He was a member of the "Polish Applied Art" Society, the Cracow Workshops, "Ład" and the Institute of Art Propaganda.