Bust of Zofia Romanowiczowna

"Bust of Zofia Romanowiczowna" (1910) by the Lviv sculptor Irena Witkowska is an artistic testimony to the development of the feminist movement in Eastern Galicia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, reflected in the organisation of cultural and charitable societies, creative unions, specialised publications, and women's participation in political life. Women studied in Lviv and European art schools, and their active exhibition activities and desire for professional recognition became common. Among the forgotten artists of Eastern Galicia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is Irena Witkowska, who participated in exhibitions in Lviv in 1907–1910. In the bust from the Gallery's collection, the sculptor has created a spacious artistic image of the famous representative of the feminist movement, participant in the January Uprising, pedagogue, public figure and writer Zofia Romanowiczowna (1842–1935). Respected in the Polish and little known in the Ukrainian cultural tradition, she was born in 1842 into the family of the famous Lviv lawyer Petro Romanowicz, a participant in the "Spring of Nations", a "sincere democrat and passionate patriot". Zofia's brother Tadeusz took part in the January Uprising, was a political activist, editor of "New Reform", editor-in-chief of "Słowo Polskie" (1895–1903), delegate to the Galician Sejm, and author of social and political articles.
Zofia devoted herself to teaching. In her younger years, she was an initiator and member of many women's patriotic associations, including Heartfelt Polish Women's Circle (Kółko Serdecznych Polek), the Confraternity of Christian and Polish Women (Bractwo Chrześcijańskich i Polskich Niewiast), the Women's Savings Society (Towarzystwo Oszczędności Kobiet), and Women's League (Liga Kobiet). She headed the Women's League (from 1915) and the Lviv Female Teachers' Association (Stowarzyszenie Nauczycielek we Lwowie). In 1927, she was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta. Zofia Romanowiczowna's literary legacy includes the "Lviv Diary", in which the author describes the cultural and political life, her contemporaries, customs, and everyday life of the time. "Bust of Zofia Romanowiczowna" (1910) by Irena Witkowska refers to a well-known photographic portrait of a public figure at a much younger age in its emotional tone, posture, and clothing. The peculiarity of the figurative solution of the work is the combination of strength and tenderness, the will to act, inner peace and self-confidence, reflected in the noble, wrinkled face and the look of intelligent eyes. Stylistically, the sculptor follows "academic Realism", which testifies to the attempt to accurately reproduce the model and her deep psychological characteristics while respecting academic principles of design.

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery