Accession Number
2001/2.118

Title
Japan's Thousand Island Mt. Huzi

Artist(s)
Karol Koslowski

Object Creation Date
1960-1965

Medium & Support
oil on canvas

Dimensions
30 in x 51 in (76.2 cm x 129.54 cm);33 ⅞ in x 55 ⅛ in (86.04 cm x 140.02 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of The Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection

Label copy
Karol Kozlowski
United States, 1885–1969
Japan’s Thousand Island Mt. Huzi
1960–65
Oil on canvas
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.
Kozlowski was a Polish immigrant who settled in New York City after being discharged from the Russian army. He worked long days, seven days a week, cleaning the coal-burning furnaces at the Astoria Light, Heat and Power Company in Queens. In his leisure hours, Kozlowski raised exotic birds and painted in the 81-square-foot shed that was his home. Cramped into this small space, Kozlowski would roll his large canvases over a work table so that only a small portion of the total work was visible at a given time. Because of this slow working method, it sometimes took Kozlowski a year to finish a piece; by his death in 1969, Kozlowski had completed only 36 paintings.
(Out of the Ordinary, 2010)
Born in Kielce, Poland, Karol Kozlowski was drafted into the Russian army and served in Siberia for three years. By 1913 he emigrated to the U.S. and resided in Brooklyn, New York with a former army pal Edward Gronet. Kozlowksi was a loner who never married or had children; he lived with the Gronet family until his death. His work expressed how he wished the world could be, a place that was more approachable, adaptable, hospitable and cleaner than what he had experienced. It wasn’t until 1962 that the rest of the world was introduced to his visionary ideals; an art director, Abril Lamarque, came across Kozlowski's works and was instrumental in their publication into the art world.
Kozlowski's works are vivid paintings of idealized urban and rural scenes, most of which contain formally dressed people, detailed city skylines and abundant animal life. Japan’s Thousand Island Mt. Huzi is a perfect example of Kozlowski's idealized world. Line and color are clean and organized giving the overall sense of orderliness and serenity. While there are no people seen in this painting, their presence is still shown through the inclusion of modes of transportation and buildings. The entire composition is idealized, rich in its simplicity and calmness. This calmness is underscored through the lack of any overt movement in the painting. The action, instead, is the movement of the viewer's eye across the colorful and dynamic surface.
Denise Patterson
Modern and Contemporary Intern
2002

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
landscape

Additional Object Classification(s)
Painting

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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