Bohdan Konrad Eligard Kelles-Krauze ( 1885 - 1945 ), Boy with Pigeons

watercolor, paper, dimensions 68 x 57 cm

Thoroughly educated architect and also painter Bohdan Konrad Eligard Kelles - Krause (1885 -1945) came from a wealthy landowning family. He began his studies in Kiev, and through St. Petersburg, Lviv and Munich, and then Paris, Vienna and Krakow, he ended up in Lublin, with which he tied his professional life as an architect. His architectural legacy is well recognized and documented, while his painting legacy - as important to himself as his architecture - is still waiting to be recognized and compiled. It is known that he took painting seriously, that he participated in many exhibitions with a positive reception, that he was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, that he was associated with the Munich Secession, and that in Paris he deepened his studies and met with the Polish artistic community there. However, most of his works remain unrecognized.The author, for the most part, did not sign or date his works. However, the time of the watercolor can be approximated as the 1920s - 1930s. Other realizations of this theme, bearing the title "The Pigeon Man", from the same period are known, and the influence of the Rhythmists and Waclaw Borowski is undeniable here. Against the background of the Lublin art community, the work of Bohdan Kelles Krause defines him as an avant-garde artist and one who seeks new and modern forms of expression.