Karl Witkowski

Karol (Karl) D. Witkowski (16 August 1860, Yazlovets, now in Chortkiv Raion – 17 May 1910) was a Polish-American portraitist and genre painter, better known in the US as Karl Witkowski. He painted scenes of contemporary daily life in America.

Biography

Karol Dominik Witkowski was born to a Polish family in Jazłowiec (Jaslowiec), near Buchach, Czortków (Podole, Poland, now Ukraine).

As a child he showed a precocious talent for drawing and his parents sent him to school in Chortkiv (12 miles from Yazlovets). In 1879 he enlisted in the Austrian Army (19th-century southern Poland was occupied by Austria and was part of Galicia), where he gained popularity by making portraits of fellow soldiers and commanding officers, including a portrait of General Duke William of Württemberg and a portrait of Lieutenant Field Marshal Emanuel Salomon Friedberg-Mírohorský. In 1880 Witkowski left the army and moved to Kraków, where from 1881 to 1883 he studied arts at the Academy of Fine Arts under the directorship of Jan Matejko. Witkowski also studied arts in Munich under Karl von Piloty. Around 1884 Witkowski emigrated from Poland, like many others, and went to America, where he stayed for three years. During that time he created his first famous paintings of young people. In 1887 he left America and arrived in France. In Paris Witkowski studied at the Julian Academy (1887-1888) and continued to work on paintings and portraits. Most of his paintings done there he signed with the added initial of author's second name (K.D. Witkowski). Among Witkowski's painting done in France were Portrait de Tomas Milatycki and Mother with Children.

In 1889 Witkowski returned to America and stayed for over 20 years until his death. During those years, besides portraits of the elite in New York City and Newark areas, he made over 200 paintings of young people (mostly newsboys and shoeshine boys), their daily life, at work and at play, often with their pets. The style of these paintings recalls the style of John George Brown to some extent. Witkowski died at the height of his artistic powers. In 1909 he registered 8 paintings through the United States Copyright Office and in just a few months of 1910 he created and registered 14 pieces more, also in the last months of his life, he exhibited his work at the State Fair of Texas and galleries of New York City.

Paintings Karl Witkowski painted the elite in Newark, New Jersey. He painted newsboys and street urchins in Newark. As a European-trained artist, he offered a distinctive portrayal of American newsboy life. His paintings are noted for their characteristic humor and brightness, ranging from lighthearted scenes to more reflective compositions .

Paintings executed by Witkowski during his time in the United States: A Can of Worms A Good Catch After a Raid Anticipation (The Bubble Blower) April Showers Boy with an Apple Boys Playing Marbles Caught One Drawin your Picture Expecting a Boom Fishing (three boys fishing) Flower Seller Game of Marbles Going Sleighing Gone Fishing Guarding the Flower Basket Shoeshine Boy (Harmonica Player) His Favorite Flower, 36 x 42 inches Knucks Down Look What I Have Mending the Baseball My Pigeons One for Two Partners Playing a Tune Playing with Fire Secrets Sharing (two street urchins in a street about to eat an apple which the smaller boy is dividing) Solitude Steady, oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches Street Urchins Teasing my Best Friend The Pets The Slingshot (The Little Hunter) Three Newsboys Two Girls Playing in a Field of Daisies Under the Mistletoe Waiting for a Bite Young Artist Boyish Pranks, 1885 Portrait of a Woman, 1885 Pick a Hand, 1889 Shoeshine Boys, 1889 Their First Smoke, 1889 Stealing Apples, 1890 Shoeshine Boy, 1891 First Cigarettes, 1892 One Paper Left, 1898 The War News, 1898 Newsboy, 1899 A Borrowed Light, Copyright 1900, 24 x 30 inches (a barefooted boy, holding a lighted cigarette, is leaning against a board fence; a newsboy, with a bunch of papers under his left arm). A Boutonniere, Copyright 1900, 20 x 30 inches (little girl with plain dress, without jacket, is putting carnation into button- hole of the newsboy's coat, The boy is leaning against a gray stone wall and has a newspaper in his left hand) A Boy, Copyright 1901 (sitting on a box near a gray wall holding a file of newspapers on his lap). A Business Transaction, Copyright 1901, November 28, 1900, 20 x 30 inches A Girl's Head, Copyright 1901, 12 x 14 inches Fruit Eaters, Copyright 1901, 24 x 30 inches (double figure painting. Little girl with dark curly hair, white dress, is sitting on wooden box, holding a square basket of peaches) A Goldfish, Copyright 1902 (little fair-haired girl, sitting before a table upon which stands a glass bowl filled with aquatic plants) A Prosperous Business Man, Copyright 1902 (small boy sitting on stone walk, left arm resting on sidewalk) The Critic, Copyright 1902 The Picture Book, Copyright 1902 (little boy and girl looking at a picture book) Another Cup, Please, Copyright 1903 (little girl seated at table pouring tea, wears dark dress; little boy is pushing toward girl an empty cup) Cash is the Thing, Copyright 1903, watercolor 14 1/2 x 20 inches (a boy, dark blue cap, brown torn jacket and pants, leaning against a barrel) Clear Profits, Copyright 1903, oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (a boy with white felt hat, blue jacket, brown knee pants, stockings, and shoes, sitting on a curb stone) The Repast, Copyright 1903, oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (a boy sitting on a box, newspapers under his arm, is eating an apple) The Temptation of Adam, exhibited in 1902 Waitin' to Git Even, Copyright 1905 (boy in red and white striped sweater and knickerbockers hiding behind boxes holding snowball in right hand) Friends, Copyright 1906 (boy in red sweater, green newsboy cap and knickerbockers seated on door step, holding white rabbit, and feeding green vegetables to it) Private Rehearsal, Copyright 1906 (little girl and two boys in wheat field. She is dancing, while the boys lean against a board fence. One is whistling and the other clapping his hands) Bonfire, Copyright 1907, oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (night scene, background, landscape, a boy with brown cap, white waist dark pants, kneeling near a bonfire) Boys Lighting a Paper Lantern, Copyright 1908 (one boy holding a burning match, smaller boy holding the paper lantern) The Hustlers, Copyright 1908 (three boys at foot of elevated railway calling out papers) Also in 1909, Witkowski exhibited at State Fair of Texas.

Gallery