Jan Bulas (1878-1919), "Sunflowers."

mixed technique, paper, 33x50 cm

Around 1899, Bulas enrolled in the Zakopane School of Wood Industry, which he did not complete. The experience he gained there allowed him to realize the woodcarving decoration of Władysław Orkan's new house, the so-called "Orkanowka".
In 1901 he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow with a drawing course in the studio of Florian Cynk. In 1904 he moved to decorative painting classes taught by Stanislaw Wyspianski. Due to his master's prolonged absences from the Academy, subsequent semesters of study were passed for Wyspiański by Jan Stanislawski and Jozef Mehoffer.
Between 1906 and 1914, he exhibited several hundred oil paintings and pastels in the building of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts. He also established cooperation with the Lviv TPSP. On one occasion, he took part in an exhibition in Vienna and at Warsaw's Zachęta Gallery. The main motif of his work remained monumental, overscaled field flowers. He also painted portraits and landscapes, which were a record of the artist's travels, which became increasingly frequent after 1908. It was then that Jan Bulas made his first overseas trip to Chicago.
The artist enlisted in the Polish Legions in 1915. Before going to the front he married in his home parish. The last letter from the front signed by Bulas is dated October 1, 1916. The artist sends further messages from the therapeutic detention facility in Kobierzyn. During World War II, German soldiers exterminated this facility. Jan Bulas certainly did not die in 1917, as is commonly reported. His letters sent from the facility to Orkan have survived, the last dating from 1919. For lack of sufficient sources, the date of the painter's death should be considered unknown.