Dimensions: 67 x 25 cm
On the reverse, inscribed in ink: 'Maurice Utrillo, V' and a paper sticker of the Hériot Encadreur painting supplies store
Origin
Collection of Louis Libaude, art dealer, writer and poet, Paris
collection of Libaude's heirs, Paris
Exhibited
La vie de bohème, Musée Utrillo-Valadon, Sannois, May 13, 2000-February 14, 2001
Olga Boznanska (1865-1940), Société Historique et Littéraire Polonaise Bibliothèque Polonaise, Paris, October 9-29, 2015
Literature
Olga Boznańska (1865-1940), exhibition catalog, ed. by Anna Czarnocka, Paris 2015, p. 28 (ill.)
Anna Król, Olga Boznańska at the Academy, Krakow 2005, p. 224.
Marcin Samlicki, Olga Boznańska. August 1925 in: "Fine Arts" 1925-1926, no. 3, p. 114.
Biography
One of the most prominent Polish artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially drawing lessons were given to the artist by her mother, Eugenia Mondan; in 1883-86 the artist studied under Kazimierz Pochwalski and Józef Siedlecki. She also attended the A. Baraniecki Higher Courses for Women in Cracow, where Hipolit Lipinski and Antoni Piotrowski gave her lessons. In 1886-1889 she studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts under Karl Kricheldorf and Wilhelm Dürr. In Munich, she opened her own studio, remaining under the tutelage of Jozef Brandt and Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski. In 1895, replacing Theodor Hummel, she took over the management of the Painting School run by him. In 1898, she settled permanently in Paris. She was a member of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka", the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Polish Literary and Artistic Society in Paris, as well as the International Society of Sculptors, Engravers and Painters in London. Since 1886, when she made her debut at the Cracow Society of Friends of Fine Arts, she presented her works at exhibitions in Poland, Europe and the United States, including Berlin (1892, 1893, 1913.), Munich (1893), Prague, London and Paris (1896), Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh (1901, 1906, 1907, 1920-28), Vienna (1902, 1908), Amsterdam (1912) and Venice (1910, 1914, 1938). She was honored with numerous awards, including a gold medal at the Munich International Exhibition (1905), the French Legion of Honor (1912), the Grand Prix at the Expo Exhibition in Paris (1939) and the Order of Polonia Restituta (1938). She was first and foremost a portraitist; the images she created of both famous people and ordinary models are part of the trend of expressive modernist portraiture. In her paintings, the artist focused on the model's face, conveying the state of his psyche and the mood of the moment. He also painted still lifes and flowers, as well as interiors, especially of his own studios.
