Oil, duplicated canvas; size: 61 x 46 cm; signed p. d.: Augustynowicz
Artist known primarily for depicting the folklore of southern Poland with beauty. Oil works from his artistic output are rarely found on the antiquarian market. The portrait on display was created during the artist's Poznan period and was exhibited in Poznan, in a pavilion located in the courtyard at 14 Wolności Square, the Building Society "Union" designed by Roger Slawski and being one of the most interesting realizations of this architect in the city. An exhibition pavilion with a glass roof, it was used in the interwar period by the Salon of the Association of Artists, then the Institute for the Promotion of Art, later the "Mockers' Club" and after that, in 1935, "Salon 35."
The originator of the Salon was Zygmunt Mąkowski, who ran the well-known art café "Under the Cactus" here in the interwar period. The salon was run since 1932. The famous literary cabaret "Club of Mockers" operated in the café from 1932 to 1935. It was Zygmunt Mąkowski who purchased the painting from the artist and it has remained in the hands of his heirs until the present.
Aleksander Augustynowicz (1865-1944) is a Polish painter, portraitist and landscape painter. Between 1883 and 1886 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow, including in the studios of Feliks Szynalewski, Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko. Having completed his studies, he left for Munich in 1888, where he continued his studies with Simon Hollósy. He also made artistic trips to Italy and Hungary. In 1890 he settled for a long time in Lviv, where he began his artistic activities and married in 1895. After the outbreak of World War I, he moved with his family to Zakopane, where he lived from 1914 to 1921. In 1921 he settled in Poznan, with which he had previous artistic ties. He was a member of the Lviv Association of Polish Artists, the Warsaw Club of Polish Watercolorists and, since 1925, a full member of the
of the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. In the same year he received the highest honorary award for lifetime achievement. In 1936 he celebrated his fiftieth anniversary of artistic activity in the capital of Greater Poland, part of which was a large retrospective exhibition of his works. After the outbreak of World War II, he moved to Warsaw, where he died during the Warsaw Uprising.
The artist painted primarily portraits, but his artistic output also includes views of architecture and monuments, landscapes, genre scenes of rural life and still lifes. Alexander Augustynowicz's realistic paintings were very popular, and his portraits were considered masterful. In Poznan, he portrayed Wojciech Trąmpczyński (Speaker of the Sejm and Senate), Ignacy Mościcki (President of the Republic of Poland), Witold Celichowski (political activist, lawyer), among others. He exhibited at home and abroad, including at the TPSP in Cracow, at the TZSP in Warsaw, in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, St. Petersburg, London. The artist was repeatedly awarded for his work, for example, he received a gold medal for his self-portrait at the international art exhibition in Berlin (1896), an honorary award at the exhibition "Polish Portrait" (1925) and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his merits in the field of art.
Augustynowicz's works are in many museum collections, including the National Museum in Poznań, the National Museum in Cracow, the National Museum in Lviv, the District Museum in Bydgoszcz and private collections.
