Władysław Skoczylas

Władysław Skoczylas was a Polish graphic artist, painter, illustrator, and art critic, who was known for his woodcuts in the style of medieval art. He won the bronze medal at the 1928 Art Competitions of the Amsterdam Olympic Games in the category Drawings and Water Colors.

From 1901 Skoczylas studied sculpture at the School of Applied Arts in Wien (Vienna), then sculpture and painting at the Krakow-Union Academy of Fine Arts, and he finally studied sculpture in Paris and graphics in Leipzig. For several years, he lived in Zakopane, where he taught drawing at the School for Forest Industry. Beginning in 1918 he settled in Warszawa, where he studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University, and with the leading engraving faculty at the School of Art and later the Academy of Fine Arts. Skoczylas was a brilliant draftsman who created the Polish school of woodcut. He did not paint much, but when he did, his focus was on landscapes, portraits and genre scenes.

According to the Official Report, Skoczylas received the bronze medal for Posters. This may be interpreted that he received the medal not for a single work but for the series of his four submitted watercolors, even if the term Posters seems to be a bit odd. Initially, Olympic historian Ferenc Mező attributed the bronze medal only to the Archer, which was adopted by many later authors. In the Official Report, Skoczylas’ Diana is also displayed. The second (kneeling) Archer and The Stag of St. Hubert could not be identified.

Four other submitted works are woodcuts, which can be assigned to the Graphic Arts category. They were produced between 1920 and 1923 and are 20-26 cm wide and 16-22 cm high. Black-and-white and colored as well as colorized prints are known.