
Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski was a Polish painter of the Munich school, one of the most popular among Jozef Brandt and Władysław Czachórski. Wierusz-Kowalski settled in Munich in 1873 just after his studies in Warsaw and Dresden. He studied for a year at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and then under Josef Brandt. His paintings which received medals at numerous exhibitions where sought-after by collectors and German art dealers. In 1890 he was nominated as an honorary professor of the Munich Academy. He painted generic and historical scenes. After his journey to Africa in 1903 he also undertook oriental themes. His paintings sparsely can be found in collections of Polish museums. His paintings where sold mostly on the German market and turned up in private collections in Germany and the United States.
Kowalski’s lone wolf print was one of the most reproduced prints of the 20th century.
I have seen this Lone Wolf image many times. I never knew its history. I am not sure why it was popular.

I saw a painting of wolves he did this week. I put it aside and was going to forget it when I thought to look further. A google search showed a lot of his work.
He did good coursing scenes.

There must have been a market for this wolf attack genre. He did quite a few of them. They are not politically correct now that wolves a wilderness icon. I do wonder what the motive is here. Were wolf attacks like this a real thing or a fanciful bit of big bad wolf bullshit? I vaguely remember Valerius Geist saying somewhere that wolves in Russia could be a problem in the past under some conditions. Maybe someone here knows more?
Nikolai Samokish was in the same market.
As usual, open in new tabs to embiggen.