Anna BILIŃSKA-BOHDANOWICZ (1854-1893), A walk by the sea

oil, cardboard; 22.2 x 13 cm;
Signed p. d.: Anna Bilińska (faintly legible);
On the reverse, inscription: Anna Bilińska (1857-1893).

PROVENANCE:
The painting comes from the collection of a notary, art collector and mayor of Bielsko Biala in the 1930s. - Kazimierz Korab Karpinski; after his death it was in the Karpinski family's possession the entire time.

Anna Bilinskaya is the first professional artist whose works were appreciated in the capital of art - Paris, despite the lack of access for women to art studies. She began her education at an early age, attending drawing lessons with Michal Elviro Andriolli, and after her family moved to Warsaw, she continued her studies at Wojciech Gerson's private painting school. At the same time, she studied at the music conservatory. Together with her friend Klementyna Krassowska, she went on a trip to Italy, visiting Munich, Salzburg and Vienna along the way. Contact with European art ultimately determined Anna Bilinskaya's dedication to painting. In 1882 she went to Paris, where she began her studies at the Académie Julian run by Rodolphe Julian. After losing loved ones in a short period of time, she remained in a difficult financial situation, giving music and drawing lessons also at the Académie Julian, where she was simultaneously exempted from tuition fees. The artist returned to Warsaw in 1892 with a plan to establish a school of painting for women; unfortunately, she did not manage to carry it out, due to severe illness and premature death in 1893. The painter began exhibiting her canvases and drawings very early. As early as 1876, they could be seen at the Warsaw Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts.
In Paris, she was awarded a gold medal for her self-portrait at the Salon of 1887 and a silver medal at the World Exhibition of 1889, which established her as an exquisite portraitist.
While in France, Anna Bilinskaya visited Brittany and Normandy, more specifically coastal towns. Then, directly in the open air, she created small, quickly painted compositions inspired by the then fashionable luminism. These small paintings, like the presented "Walking
By the Sea" are almost impressionistic in nature.