Portrait of Stanisław Kamocki

Stanisław Kamocki, a Young Poland artist, a disciple of Leon Wyczółkowski and Jacek Malczewski at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków (1891-1900), took over the inheritance from Jan Stanisławski, assuming the chair of landscape painting at his alma mater in 1919. His private studio in Zakopane attracted many friends and students, for whom the Podhale region became one of the most important sources of inspiration in the first three decades of the 20th century. In 1920, on a glade with a mountain range in the background, Władysław Jarocki portrayed his older colleague. A mature man with a serious face, shown standing, dressed in a long coat, leaning on a walking stick and holding a folding chair and an easel under his arm, looked at the viewer from a square picture field. This characteristic format was already used by Jarocki in his depictions of folk types from the Carpathian Mountains, as well as in his full-figure self-portrait from 1909, in which his love for the mountain lifestyle was demonstrated by a sports jumper and narrow trousers, and especially by non-mountain attributes - skis with poles. Jarocki reached for a canvas similar to a square once again when he portrayed Kamocki on a pasture overgrown with dandelions in 1941. The 66-year-old landscape painter is sitting on a stool in front of a set-up easel with a palette and brushes in his hands. The waistcoat and tie maintain the convention of the official image of the artist at work, while the checkered shirt and climbing boots define the setting closest to the interests of the experienced professor. Due to the closure of the academy by the occupying forces, a year later Jarocki began working at the State Highlander School of Folk Art in Zakopane, the former famous State School of Wood Industry. Two years later, he was laid to rest in the Cemetery of the Deserved in Pęksowy Brzyzek.

Szymon Piotr Kubiak