Two women toil in a garden in this wonderful, original genre painting by American artist Karl Witkowski. The work demonstrates the artist’s keen eye for detail and understanding of his subject. While Witkowski is best known for his works of children, executed in the style of his contemporary, J.G. Brown, this beautiful oil on canvas showcases the artist's range and understanding of his subject.

Witkowski was born in present-day Ukraine and showed a great talent for drawing early in his childhood. He enlisted in the Austrian Army at the age of 19, but after receiving attention for his portraits of his fellow soldiers, he left the army after just one year to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1881-1883. In 1884, he emigrated from Poland to America, where he worked and studied in New York for the next three years. In 1887, he attended the Academie Julian in Paris to expand his formal art training. By 1889, Witkowski was back in the United States where he would remain for the rest of his life–first in New York, then to New Jersey. He mastered the art of depicting everyday people going about their daily lives, particularly newsboys and street urchins. This particular painting is rarity amongst his oeuvre. Yet, the same heartfelt treatment of his subject is marvelously expressed in every brushstroke.

Circa 1900