Zdzislaw Ruszkowski (1907-1991)

Ruszkowski moved from his native Poland to Paris in 1935, where he saw a large Cézanne exhibition in the spring of 1936. It motivated him to visit Provence and understand the hold which the area had for the older artist. The present work was created during this trip in the summer and autumn of 1936. Those months brought intense financial hardship for the artist, thus the poignant inscription on the reverse of the painting: 'painted with parafin/without food'. The parafin refered to was from his lamp.