Michał Pociecha (1852–1908), Country Cottage, 1881

lithograph, paper; 22 x 14 cm (inside the frame); signed on the plate, lower right: “M. Pociecha”;

The work was created in 1881 as a gesture of solidarity by Kraków artists with Zagreb, which had been devastated by an earthquake the previous year. The lithograph was produced in 1881 at Aureliusz Pruszyński’s Artistic Lithography Workshop in Kraków.

Aureliusz Pruszyński (September 9, 1847, Kasinka Mała, Limanowa County – April 22, 1904, Kraków) was a Kraków-based lithographer and owner of the renowned Aureliusz Pruszyński Artistic Lithography Workshop in Kraków, founded in 1873 at 17 Pijarska Street; from around 1902, the studio was owned by his son Zenon Pruszyński (see SAP, vol. 8, pp. 92–93). From the late 19th century onward, leading Kraków artists had their graphic works (including posters) printed using the lithography technique at A. Pruszyński’s studio, among them the famous “Melpomene Portfolio.”