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Portrait of Leon Pininski

Jacek Malczewski

Basic information

ID: Ж-59
Author: Jacek Malczewski
Name: Portrait of Leon Pininski
Date of creation: 1905
Country: Poland
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 85 x 110 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Provenance: Collection of Leon Pininski

Information about author

Author: Jacek Malczewski
Author in the original: Jacek Malczewski
Artist's lifetime: 1854–1929
Country: Poland
Biography: Jacek Malczewski (July 14, 1854, Radom, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire – October 8, 1929, Krakow, Republic of Poland) was an outstanding artist and one of the most prominent representatives of Polish Symbolism. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, where his teacher was Jan Matejko. The artist participated in an archeological expedition to Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Greece, which was organized by Count Karol Lanckoronski. He also visited Munich and Italy. Jacek Malczewski was one of the founders of the art union "Sztuka" ("Art"). The artist's creative heritage includes landscapes and portraiture, symbolic compositions, interpretations of religious themes, and numerous self-portraits in various images.

Object description

Count Leon Pininski donated seven paintings to the collection of the Gallery, including a sketch of the portrait and an unfinished portrait of the count. Leon Jan Pininski was a professor of Roman law at the University of Lviv, governor of Galicia, and an avid collector, as well as a good friend of Jacek Malczewski. Portraits by Jacek Malczewski are one of the greatest pages of his artistic legacy. Portrait paintings had several characteristic features, in particular the portrayed person was depicted either bust-length or knee-length; the figure was shown in such a way that the viewer's attention was focused on the head and arms of the person in the painting; the face was emotionless, and the facial expressions were undemonstrative. The character of the portrayed person was emphasized with the help of surrounding objects or a landscape. In this work, one can see a middle-aged man dressed in the fashion of those times, namely in a three-piece suit and a tie; he is depicted with a book against a background of windy gray landscape with a field and low clouds.

Portrayed person