Nikifor Krynicki (Polish/Poland 1895-1968)
Untitled (Town Street Scene), 1955-1968
Mixed Media on paper, 7 x 10 inches
Framed dimesions: 10 x 13 inches

Provenance: Astrid & Dr. Halvor Jaeger collection (Famed chess set and art collectors)

On view now (Oct 11 2021 - Feb 27 2022) at the Panstwowe Muzeum Ethnograficzne w Warszawie (National Museum of Ethnography, Warsaw) is a significant retrospective of Nikifor's art. Nikifor, born Epifanius Drowniak in 1895, is a celebrated self-taught master who has work in many permanent collections of worldwide museums, including at the Collection de l'Art Brut Lausanne (initially established by a Jean Dubuffet donation). The Collection de l'Art Brut Lausanne highlighted 4 Nikifor works in their Biennial II which focused on architecture in art. Nikifor first started painting in mixed media when he was given some rudimentary materials by a good samaritan. Nikifor would use the oils and gouache to paint buildings, town squares and churches that interested him, eventually incorporating text in his work. The Jaeger family collected Nikifor during their extensive late 1970s and 1980s travels in Poland, and at German art centers that were exhibiting Nikifor at the time.

Works from the Jaeger art collection have been exhibited at many museums and art spaces, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Baltimore Museum of Art, Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam, Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Ontario College of Art and Design, UCLA's Fowler in Los Angeles, University of Cologne galleries, and the Museum Funf Kontinente in Munich.