Theme from the Planty Park

Stanisław Kamocki (1875–1944) was a peer of Wojciech Weiss and Ignacy Pieńkowski. He is considered to have been Stanisławski’s most talented student. The most common theme in Kamocki’s paintings are landscapes of the area around Kraków, painted directly during plein air sessions and portraying fields of grain, sheaves of wheat, and blossoming rows of potato plants in the field. Another characteristic motif were the quaint wooden churches of the Kraków and Podhale regions. In his later work, Kamocki began to deal with “urban” themes from the cities of Kraków and Sandomierz. Theme from the Planty Park was painted in 1934. The composition is built up in large, flat, spots of colour dominated by tones of blue, grey, and green. The painting is linked to the stylings of Young Poland art by its wavy, soft lines, characteristic for Art Nouveau, visible in particular in the treatment of the trees.