Watercolor, gouache, paper
Signed p.g.: Kanelba
Dimensions: 68 × 56 cm, 91 × 78 cm (with frame)
Delicate, almost ephemeral portrait of a young woman wearing a hat, maintained in Kanelba's characteristic soft, diffuse tones. The contour of the face, the outline of the hat and the hand against the cheek are built up with a light, sketchy drawing that blends with the warm, yellowed background of the paper. The artist reduces details in favor of mood - the portrait becomes more of a vision than a realistic image, which corresponds well with his Parisian portrait work of the 1930s and 1940s, in which the psychology of the model and the mood of the moment were paramount.
Work on original patinated paper; general darkening and discoloration from aging visible. Light waviness of the ground. Not examined when removed from the frame; visible signs of age also on the reverse. Older frame, with clear signs of use.
Rajmund Kanelba (Italian: Mojżesz Rajmund Kanelbaum, 1897 Warsaw - 1960 London) - Polish painter, excellent portraitist of women and children, active mainly in France and the Anglo-Saxon world. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw under Stanislaw Lentz and Tadeusz Pruszkowski, then continued his studies in Vienna and Paris.
From 1926 he lived primarily in Paris, associated with the École de Paris circle, and from the 1930s he traveled regularly between France, England and the United States. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d'Automne in Paris, and after the war also at London and New York galleries. His mature oeuvre combines the influence of modern French painting with lyrical realism. He painted atmospheric genre scenes, flowers, interiors, but above all psychological portraits of women and children, valued for the subtlety of color and sensitive characterization of his models. In 1955, commissioned by the Grenadier Guards, he painted a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The artist died in London in 1960.
