Signature on right: T. Axentowicz
Compare with:
- Summer Salon - posthumous exhibition of Teodor Axentowicz, Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Lvov, V 1939, cat. no. 41;
- Teodor Axentowicz 1859-1938. exhibition catalog, National Museum in Cracow XI 1998 - IV 1999, Silesian Museum in Katowice II 1999 - IV 1999, cat. no. III. 33, il. s. 88.
Among Axentowicz's best known works are symbolic and generic compositions with content related to the passage of time and passing. About these works writes Stefania Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska: In addition to portraits of society ladies, Teodor Axentowicz drew in pastel also portraits of young Hutsul women in colorful clothes, with a jug or a thimble in their hands, as well as images of an old lyricist - an old man with a gray beard, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of a young girl or a phantom emerging from a tree branch. The artist introduced the figure of the lyricist in 1894 - to a fragment of Jan Styka's and Wojciech Kossak's "Panorama of Raclawice" that he painted - to then return to this motif many times around 1900 and towards the end of his life, in the 1930s, in compositions with symbolic titles: "Old Age and Youth," "Old Man and Girl," and "Vision - Rec ollection"( TeodorAxentowicz's Oeuvre, [in:] Teodor Axentowicz 1859-1938. Exhibition Catalogue..., p. 16).
Paintings from the series Vision - Recollection appear on the collector's market far less frequently than Old Age and Youth. Two other versions of the offered composition are in the collections of the National Museum in Cracow and the Historical Museum in Sanok.
Teodor Axentowicz (Brasov in Transylvania 1859 - Krakow 1938) - painter, pastelist, lithographer - was one of the most famous and respected Polish painters. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Gabriel Hackl, Alexander Wagner, Gyula Benczúr. He completed his studies in Paris, where he then stayed for several years. He participated in the Paris Salons; in 1890 he received membership in the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. During this time, he also made numerous trips to London. In 1895 he returned to Poland and settled permanently in Cracow, appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts there (from 1900 the Academy). He taught continuously at the academy until 1934, serving twice as rector (1910-11 and 1927-28). He was one of the founding members of the Society of Polish Artists "Art", a member of the Vienna "Secession" and a contributor to its magazine "Ver Sacrum". He was particularly successful with idealized images of refined ladies and graceful children's portraits. He also painted genre paintings; he was one of the first painters of the Hutsul region and the Hutsul people. He created historical paintings and symbolic compositions related to the passage of time, transience and old age. In his early, Munich period, these were paintings maintained in the spirit of academic realism; his later work was influenced by 18th century English painting and the works of contemporary painters - Boldoni, Whistler, Sargent. His paintings are characterized by decorativeness, elegance, the freshness of a subtle range of colors and delicate Art Nouveau styling. Initially he painted in oil and watercolor, and after 1890 he primarily mastered the pastel technique. He was involved in illustration and lithography, and designed posters for "Art" exhibitions.
