oil, panel, 22.9 × 20.1 cm
Signed in pencil p. d.: "Olga Boznańska"
Provenance:
- Collection of the art dealer, Angelo Sommaruga (1857-1941). Famous publisher, journalist and art dealer. In 1876, he founded the progressive and anticlerical daily "La Farfalla" in Cagliari. He then moved to Bologna, then to Rome, where between 1881 and 1885 he published more than 130 works by authors as innovative as Gabriel d'Annuzio, Giosue Carducci and Edmund de Amicis. His collection included works by Frenchmen, Americans such as George Obertuffer (1878-1940) and Poles active in Paris at the time, including Olga Boznańska and Eugeniusz Zak (based on E. Bobrowska, U. Kozakowska-Zaucha, "Olga Boznańska," National Museum in Warsaw, Cracow 2014, p. 258).
- Collection of Maria Caputo Sommaruga (she inherited the painting after her father's death in 1941).
- private collection
- "Gallery of Brands" collection, until 2004.
- private collection
Reproduced and described:
- E. Bobrowska-Jakubowska, "Polish Artists in France in the Years 1890-1918. Communities and Individualities", Warsaw 2005, ill. 7, s. 210-211
The work will be included in the catalog raisonné of Olga Boznańska's paintings being prepared by Urszula Kozakowska-Zaucha (National Museum in Cracow) and Ewa Bobrowska-Jakubowska.
"Circus" by Olga Boznanska is in many ways a unique work, standing out from the portraits and still lifes for which the artist's work is primarily known. Although Boznanska shunned comparisons with the works of the Impressionists, it is impossible not to notice reminiscences close to the paintings of Edgar Degas in this painting. Planned in a tight frame, the composition, presenting a crowd of spectators watching the display of volteys, is very photographic in nature. As we know, the invention of the daguerreotype significantly influenced the approach of artists to the composition of works, it was a technique that created new possibilities for working on the work. The viewer, watching the scene unfolding in the painting, has the impression of watching the acrobatic display, as it were, through the eyes of the artist herself from the perspective of the first row, right next to the arena itself. It is possible that the subject of the painting is a show taking place at the famous circus "Medrano" (once called "Fernando"), which was located on Boulevard de Rochechouart in Montmartre. Due to its location on the hill, which became the center of Parisian artistic bohemia, the circus, which still operates today, has inspired many artists. Famous works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (illustrated above), Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat and Edgar Degas take up this theme. The painting offered at auction belonged to an Italian art dealer, Angelo Sommaruga. The circumstances of the acquaintance between the collector and the painter are unknown. However, judging by the number and timing of the works in his collection, it was a collaboration that lasted more than two decades - the earliest, "Portrait of a Young Boy," dates to around 1890, while the other pole is marked by the commissioning artist's own portrait from around 1910. In addition to the works already mentioned, Angelo Sommaruga's collection also included works showing the entire spectrum of subjects taken up by Boznanska, including still lifes ("Bouquet of Red Flowers (Gladiole)," "Still Life with Japanese Figure") and a landscape depicting a view of St. Louis Church in Paris. (E. Bobrowska- -Jakubowska, "Polish Artists in France in the Years 1890-1918. Communities and Individualities", Warsaw 2005, pp. 210-211). "Boznanska's "Circus" is undeniably an intriguing work, experimental, so to speak, with great collector's value. "...It seems to contradict the views that prevail not so much about painting, but about the artist's personality. For she is generally perceived as extremely modest, almost puritanical in her depictions. Meanwhile, the scene in question may not be frivolous, but it is in any case lighthearted" (E. Bobrowska-Jakubowska, "Polish Artists..., op. cit., p. 211).