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Self-Portrait

Olga Boznanska

Basic information

ID: Ж-265
Author: Olga Boznanska
Name: Self-Portrait
Date of creation: 1908
Country: Poland
Technique: oil painting
Material: wood oil
Dimensions: 37.8 x 29.8 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery

Information about author

Author: Olga Boznanska
Author in the original: Olga Boznańska
Artist's lifetime: 1865–1940
Country: Poland
Biography: Olga Boznanska was a Polish artist, portraitist, and an important figure in modernist painting; she developed her own style based on the principles of Realism and Impressionism, as well as under the influences of Velázquez, Whistler, and Manet. She was a member of various art associations. In 1898, she moved to Paris; she was a member of the Munich School, the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" (1898), and Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (National Society of Fine Arts) (1901). She was born in Krakow. The family, in which the future artist grew up, was quite modest. However, from an early age, Olga gained artistic skills with Antoni Piotrowski and Kazimierz Teofil Pochwalski. From 1886 to 1889, she studied art in private schools of such artists as Karl Kricheldorf and Wilhelm Dürr, given that in those years women were not permitted to gain knowledge at higher educational establishments. After completing her studies, Olga began to demonstrate her works to the general public, organizing exhibitions in big cities such as Munich, Vienna, and Warsaw; she received several awards in London, Munich, and Paris. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1901, an exhibition of the works by Olga Boznanska was organized in Pittsburgh. Eleven years later, Olga Boznanska together with such outstanding artists as Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir, organized a new exhibition in the same city, representing France with her works. In 1939, she received the Grand Prix award at the World Expo in Paris. A year later, she took part in the Venice Biennale. The artist's life ended in 1940 during her stay in Paris. Olga Boznanska's works are stored in Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, as well as in Polish museums, namely in the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Krakow, and the National Museum in Kielce.

Object description

Olga Boznanska's self-portraits take a special place among a wide range of portraits of adults and children, and models immersed in the world of their own thoughts. As a rule, these are virtuoso sketches created in chamber interiors. The atmosphere of melancholy and concentration is enhanced by a narrow range of brown and gray tones with carmine and white accents. Sketchy shapes, uneven brush strokes, colors flickering, and exquisite harmony of tones, as well as the skillful use of natural colors of the cardboard base are the formal features of sometimes almost abstract works by Olga Boznanska.

Portrayed person

The name of the person portrayed: Olga Boznanska
Lifetime of the person portrayed: 1865–1940

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Self-Portrait

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