Jerzy Kossak
1886–1955 · Polish realist painter of military and historical scenes
Jerzy Maciej Kossak (Kraków, 1886-1955) was a Polish realist painter best known for military and historical scenes. The son of painter Wojciech Kossak and grandson of Juliusz Kossak, he belonged to a family of painters, writers and public figures. He was highly prolific, and his canvases, especially those of Uhlans on horseback, were in strong demand between the interwar years and the postwar period, until the end of Stalinism in Poland.
He grew up watching his father and grandfather at work and showed talent early on. He never attended an art school, and refined his craft in his father's studio. His first exhibition took place in Kraków in 1910, with a Napoleonic series that received favourable reviews. During the First World War he served as a lieutenant in an Austrian Uhlan regiment on the Italian front. After the war he painted in a studio his father had set up to ease the family's finances.
His output ranged over Napoleonic subjects, battles of the Polish Legions, hunting and folklore scenes, and many portraits. He followed his father's style closely, at times copying his themes and even his paintings, and critics often note that he never developed an individual voice. His legacy is that of a market painter who kept Polish military iconography alive in his era, and his works remain among the best-selling at Polish auctions.