29x21 cm (inside the frame), watercolor/gouache, signed lower right: E. Ukleja
Ukleja was the son of an oil driller. He spent his childhood in Utyń, Stanisławów, and Baku. Later in life, he served in the cavalry. He then enrolled at the State School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry in Kraków (vocational class—graphic arts). In 1927, he began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he studied in the studios of Miłosz Kotarbiński and Władysław Skoczylas. At the same time, he worked as a lecturer at vocational schools in Łódź and as a teacher. During World War II, he remained in Warsaw, where he organized clandestine classes; he was also there during the Warsaw Uprising, and after its fall, he was deported to a transit camp in Pruszków. After World War II, he was a lecturer at the State Industrial School for Girls in Łódź and was active in the Association of Polish Visual Artists
