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Olga Boznańska

Olga Boznańska (1865-1940) painting at an easel in the studio of her home in ul. Wolska 21 in Kraków, ca. 1920. Paper photo, 12.2 x 16.9 cm, National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Inv. Nr. DI 97315/1

Mediathek Sorted

Media library
  • Ill. 1: Girl in a Hat with a Feather, 1887 - Study of a Girl in a Hat with a Feather, München 1887. Oil on canvas on paperboard, 58 x 44 cm
  • Ill. 2: Monk with Wine, 1887 - Monk with Wine, München 1887. Oil on canvas, 81.5 x 65,2 cm, signed top right: Boznańska Munich 87
  • Ill. 3: Young Woman with a Red Parasol, 1888 - Portrait of a Young Woman with a Red Parasol, 1888, Oil on canvas, 88 x 60 cm
  • Ill. 4: Gypsy Woman, 1888 - Portrait of a Woman (Gypsy Woman), 1888. Oil on canvas, 65 x 53 cm
  • Ill. 5: Florists, 1889  - Florists, 1889. Oil on canvas, 65 x 86 cm
  • Ill. 6: Japanese Woman, 1889  - Japanese Woman, 1889. Oil on wood, 37 x 21 cm
  • Ill. 7: From a Walk, 1889 - From a Walk (Lady in a White Dress), 1889. Oil on canvas, 161.5 x 100 cm
  • Ill. 8: Portrait of Zofia Federowicz, 1890  - Portrait of Zofia Federowicz, 1890. Oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
  • Ill. 9: Breton Woman II, 1890  - Breton Woman, version II, 1890. Oil on canvas 53 x 42 cm
  • Ill. 10: In the Orangery, 1890 - In the Orangery, 1890. Oil on canvas, 235 x 180 cm
  • Ill. 11: On Good Friday, 1890  - On Good Friday, 1890. Oil on canvas, 240 x 158 cm
  • Ill. 12: Girl with a Vegetable Basket, 1891 - Girl with a Vegetable Basket in the Garden, 1891. Oil on canvas, 125 x 85 cm
  • Ill. 13: Boy in School Uniform, ca. 1890 - Portrait of a Boy in School Uniform, ca. 1890. Oil on canvas, 180 x 100 cm
  • Ill. 14: Portrait of a Woman, 1891 - Portrait of a Woman, 1891. Oil on canvas, 122 x 80 cm
  • Ill. 15: Woman with a Japanese Parasol, 1892 - Portrait of a Woman with a Japanese Parasol, 1892. Oil on canvas, 65 x 52 cm
  • Ill. 16: Olga Boznańska, 1893 - Kasper Żelechowski (1863-1942): Portrait of Olga Boznańska with a Japanese Parasol, Krakòw 1893, photograph on albumen print, 18,4 x 11,5 cm
  • Ill. 17: In the Studio, ca. 1894  - In the Studio, ca. 1894. Oil on paperboard, 49 x 75 cm
  • Ill. 18: Portrait of Paul Nauen, 1893  - Portrait of Paul Nauen, 1893. Oil on canvas, 121 x 91 cm
  • Ill. 19: Self Portrait, 1893  - Self portrait, 1893. Oil on canvas, 70 x 57 cm
  • Ill. 20: Self Portrait, 1896 - Self portrait, 1896. Oil on paperboard, 55.2 x 42.5 cm
  • Ill. 21: Self Portrait, ca. 1897 - Self portrait, ca. 1897. Pastel on paper, 102 x 65 cm
  • Ill. 22: Woman with a Girl, ca. 1893 - Study of a Woman with a Girl, ca. 1893. Oil on paperboard, 56.5 x 43 cm
  • Ill. 23: Girl with Chrysanthemums, 1894  - Girl with Chrysanthemums, 1894. Oil on paperboard, 88.5 x 69 cm
  • Ill. 24: Woman in a White Blouse, 1894  - Portrait of a Woman in a White Blouse, 1894. Oil on paperboard, 67 x 48 cm
  • Ill. 25: Girl in the Garden, 1896  - Portrait of a Woman in a White Blouse, 1894. Oil on paperboard, 67 x 48 cm
  • Ill. 26: Two Children on the Stairs, ca. 1898 - Two Children on the Stairs, ca. 1898. Oil on paperboard, 102 x 75 cm
  • Ill. 27: Studio in Munich, 1896/98  - Olga Boznańska in her Studio in Georgenstraße, Munich, 1896/98. Paper photo, 12.5 x 9.4 cm
  • Ill. 28: Portrait of Anna Saryusz Zaleska, 1899  - Portrait of the painter Anna Saryusz Zaleska, 1899. Oil on paperboard, 68 x 64 cm
  • Ill. 29: Portrait of Antoni Kamieński, 1899  - Portrait of the painter Antoni Kamieński, 1899. Oil on paperboard, 95 x 49.5 cm
  • Ill. 30: Portrait of a Woman in a Blue Blouse, 1899 - Portrait of a Woman in a Blue Blouse, 1899. Oil on cardboard auf paperboard, 69 x 43 cm
  • Ill. 31: Grandmother’s Name Day, ca. 1900  - Grandmother’s Name Day, ca. 1900. Oil on canvas, 79 x 60 cm
  • Ill. 32: Two Girls, 1906.  - Portrait of Two Girls, Helena und Władysława Chmielarczyk, 1906. Oil on cardboard, 95 x 67 cm
  • Ill. 33: Portrait of Franciszek Mączyński, 1902  - Portrait of the Architect Franciszek Mączyński Franciszek Mączyński, 1902. Oil on paperboard, 72 x 68.5 cm
  • Ill. 34: Portrait of Maria Koźniewska-Kalinowska, 1903  - Portrait of the Painter Maria Koźniewska-Kalinowska, 1903. Oil on canvas, 73 x 53.5 cm
  • Ill. 35: Portrait of August Radwan, 1904/05  - Portrait of the Pianist August Radwan, 1904/05. Oil and tempera on canvas on paperboard, 75 x 80.3 cm
  • Ill. 36: Portrait of Zofia Kirkor-Kiedroń, 1903-05  - Portrait of Zofia Kirkor-Kiedroń (née Grabska), 1903-05. Oil on paperboard, 99 x 68 cm
  • Ill. 37: Portrait of Ludwig Puget, 1907  - Portrait of Ludwig Puget, 1907. Oil on canvas, 47 x 38 cm
  • Ill. 38: Portrait of Jadwiga Papara, 1907  - Portrait of Miss Jadwiga Papara from Lviv, 1907. Oil on paperboard, 117 x 91 cm
  • Ill. 39: Lady in a Red Hat, post 1900  - Portrait of a Lady in a Red Hat, post 1900. Pastel, 75 x 56.5 cm
  • Ill. 40: Young Man in Black, ca. 1900  - Portrait of a Young Man in Black, ca. 1900. Oil on paperboard, 92 x 46.5 cm
  • Ill. 41: Woman in a Brown Dress, ca. 1906  - Portrait of a Woman in a Brown Dress, ca. 1906. Oil on paperboard, 98.5 x 74.5 cm
  • Ill. 42: Bronze Bust, 1902 - Bolesław Biegas (1877-1954): Bust of Olga Boznańska, 1902. Bronze, 52 x 27 x 18 cm
  • Ill. 43: In the Studio in Kraków, 1906 - Interior of the Artist’s Studio in Kraków, 1906. Oil on paperboard, 50.5 x 73 cm
  • Ill. 44: Self Portrait, ca. 1906  - Self Portrait, ca. 1906. Pastel, gouache, chalk on cardboard, 74 x 43.5 cm
  • Ill. 45: Place des Ternes in Paris, ca. 1907  - Place des Ternes in Paris, ca. 1907. Oil on paperboard, 14 x 24 cm
  • Ill. 46: In the Studio, 1913  - In the Studio, 1913. Oil on paperboard, 68 x 44 cm
  • Ill. 47: View from the Krakòw Studio, ca. 1914  - View from the Krakòw Studio, ca. 1914. Oil on paperboard, 50 x 39 cm
  • Ill. 48: Self Portrait, post 1913  - Self Portrait, post 1913. Oil on paperboard, 55.2 x 46 cm
  • Ill. 49: Olga Boznańska, ca. 1913 - Olga Boznańska on the Sofa with a Cigarette in the Studio in her House in ul. Wolska 21 in Kraków, ca. 1913. Photograph, 16.9 x 12.2 cm
  • Ill. 50: Still Life, 1918  - Still Life, 1918. Oil on paperboard, 38.5 x 57.5 cm
  • Ill. 51: Poppies, post 1920  - Poppies, post 1920. Oil on paperboard, 46 x 38 cm
  • Ill. 52: Red Flowers, 1925-30  - Red Flowers, 1925-30. Oil on cardboard, 35 x 25.5 cm
  • Ill. 53: Flowers, ca. 1930  - Flowers, ca. 1930. Oil on wood, 29.5 x 41 cm
  • Ill. 54: Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1922  - Portrait of a Lady with a Threefold Pearl Necklace, ca. 1922. Oil on paperboard, 80 x 65 cm
  • Ill. 55: Portrait of Mrs Drzewiecka, post 1925  - Portrait of Mrs Drzewiecka, post 1925. Oil on cardboard, 50 x 35 cm
  • Ill. 56: Portrait of Miss Ellen, post 1925  - Portrait of Miss Ellen, post 1925. Oil on cardboard, 79 x 51.5 cm
  • Ill. 57: Portrait of Dr. Melania Lipińska, ca. 1926  - Portrait of Dr. Melania Lipińska, ca. 1926. Oil on paperboard, 62.5 x 41.5 cm
  • Ill. 58: Portrait of Miss Syrewicz, 1926 - Portrait of Miss Syrewicz, 1926. Oil on cardboard, 55 x 33.5 cm
  • Ill. 59: Portrait of Julia Rylska, ca. 1930  - Portrait of the writer and translator Julia Rylska, ca. 1930. Oil on cardboard, 69.5 x 48.5 cm
  • Ill. 60: Portrait of Maria Pfitzner, ca. 1930 - Portrait of Maria Pfitzner, ca. 1930. Oil on paperboard, 75 x 46 cm
  • Ill. 61: Portrait of Zofia Kulaszyńska, 1930  - Portrait of Zofia Kulaszyńska, 1930. Oil on cardboard, 47 x 35 cm
Olga Boznańska – Kraków, Munich, Paris
Olga Boznańska (1865-1940) painting at an easel in the studio of her home in ul. Wolska 21 in Kraków, ca. 1920. Paper photo, 12.2 x 16.9 cm, National Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Inv. Nr. DI 97315/1

When she was looking for a new teacher, Boznańska originally thought of the Norwegian portrait painter, Carl Frithjof Smith (1859-1917) and of Paul Nauen (1859-1932), who also worked on portraits and painted pictures of children. Both had studied at the Munich Academy of Arts but neither was accepting students at the time. In the end she decided in favour of the figure, portrait and still-life painter, Wilhelm Dürr (the Younger, 1857-1900), who, since the 1883 Munich Art Exhibition, had been influenced by French open-air painting and by the German naturalists Fritz von Uhde and Max Liebermann. But she only studied under him for a few months. Her choice makes it clear that she was interested in portraits, pictures of children, still-lifes and interiors, themes to which she would dedicate herself almost exclusively for the rest of her life. As she later wrote, she worked industriously from dawn to dusk and scarcely went out.[10] But she did not live a retired life. Her best friend was the painter from Königsberg, Hedwig Weiß (1860-1923), who had also studied under Dürr and Uhde and with whom she shared a studio. Her circle of friends also included the painter from Łódź, Samuel Hirszenberg (1865-1908), who studied in Kraków in 1880 and from 1883 to 1887 under Wagner at the Munich Academy; the graphic artist, painter and sculptor, Ignacy Łopieński (1865-1944), who began his studies under Wagner in 1888; and finally the Warsaw painter and sculptor, Wacław Szymanowski (1859-1930), who moved from Paris to Munich in 1880 to study under Ludwig von Löfftz before opening a painting school in 1891 with another of Wagner’s students, Stanisław Grocholski (1858-1932) in the Munich suburb of Pasing. Boznańska opened her own studio in Theresienstraße in 1889. At some time or other she became engaged to the architect, Józef Czajkowski (1872-1947), who attended art schools in Munich, Paris, Vienna and Kraków between 1892 and 1895.

Under the influence of Dürr and presumably also encouraged by Weiß, who in turn was encouraged by Uhde, Boznańska’s use of colours suddenly became bright and colourful. During these years Uhde was painting children’s scenes where the sunlight fell indoors through the window, illuminating faces and bodies alike, as in the religious scene, “Suffer the Little Children to Come unto Me“ (1884, Museum of Pictorial Arts, Leipzig) and the “Prayer at the Table” (1885, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin), all the way to the “Nursery” (1889, Hamburg Kunsthalle), that was flooded in light. In 1888 Boznańska painted her “Portrait of a Young Woman with a Red Parasol” (1888, Ill. 3) whose main motif is in the background, alongside her subject with her pink complexion and blue eyes, a Bavarian hat and a sweet smelling white Japanese paper umbrella. This was probably based on a somewhat larger pastel work made in the same year by the Polish artist Anna Bilińska (1857-1893), who was living in Paris at the time, and entitled “Woman in a Kimono with a Japanese Parasol”, whose motifs often corresponded with those of Boznańska.[11] Works by Bilińska were shown in Kraków between 1883 and 1895, in Munich in 1890 and 1892, and at the International Art Exhibition in Berlin in 1891, where Boznańska also exhibited. There is no proof that the two artists knew each other. Nonetheless, during this time Boznańska had a particular weakness for Japonism, the copying of motifs and composition principles from Japanese coloured woodcuts. In 1889 she painted the portrait of a “Japanese Woman” (Ill. 6) and in 1892 another portrait of a woman carrying a Japanese parasol (Ill. 15).

 

[10] ibid.

[11] Ewa Bobrowska: Olga Boznańska and Her Artistic Friendships, in: Exhibition cat.. Olga Boznańska, Kraków 2014, pages 86-89, ill. 39