Zofia Stryjeńska, UMIZGI. THE Harvest, 1950s.

46,0 x 40,0cm - gouache, canvas signed l.d.: Z. STRYJENSKA

Provenance:

The painting comes from the collection of the Woydatt family (according to a family account, befriended by Zofia Stryjeńska), which left for France during World War II. Currently her heirs live in Portugal.

Compare:

- Zofia Stryjeńska 1891-1976. exhibition at the National Museum in Cracow, X 2008 - I 2009 [concept, layout and scholarly editing by Światosław Lenartowicz], Cracow 2008 (2nd revised edition Cracow 2009), p. 335 (il.), cat. no. III.I.128.

Literature:

- Maria Grońska, Zofia Stryjeńska, published by Ossolineum, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1991;

- Angelika Kuźniak, Stryjeńska. Diabli nadali, Wyd. Czarne, Wolowiec 2015.



As for my artistic legacy, it is huge and somewhere after people all over the world lost. There would have been a sack of gold and the Glory of the Nation, if someone had taken care of it when. Sophia Stryjeńska. Amen.

quoted by A. Kuźniak, Stryjeńska..., op. cit. p. 333.



The creative individual who most powerfully represents Polish art today is unquestionably Zofia Stryjeńska (...), if we take into account the original character of her work, we must admit that she is currently the one representative force for Polish painting. (...) her work possesses that clarity and charm, that convincing strangeness, charm and power of expression that only truly brilliant individuals can afford," Jan Żyznowski wrote in 1927 about the "princess of Polish painting" (quoted by M. Grońska, Zofia Stryjeńska, op. cit., p. 20).

The period of success and prosperity was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Two years after its end, the artist left her homeland to settle permanently in Geneva. In exile, Stryjeńska maintained contact with the Polish community. She created mainly on commission for compatriots living in France and the United States, as well as in Canada and Australia. The colorful compositions, maintained in the much-vaunted decorative style, are characterized by strong drawing. They present old motifs from her paintings in new approaches, maintained in the mood of a rural idyll.

♣ to the auctioned price, in addition to other costs, will be added a fee arising from the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Law of February 4, 1994 - on copyright and related rights (droit de suite).

Zofia Stryjeńska, née Lubanska (Krakow 1891 - Geneva 1976) - painter, illustrator, stage designer - was one of the more colorful figures of the Polish artistic community in the interwar period. After a short period of study with Leonard Stroynowski and at Maria Niedzielska's school in Cracow, she left for Munich, where in 1911-1912 she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in male disguise (women were not admitted at the time). She made her debut at the Kraków TPSP in 1912 with a series of cartoons of Polish fairy tales inspired by folk tales. In 1916 she married Karol Stryjeński. She lived in Cracow until 1919, later living in Paris, Cracow, Zakopane and Warsaw. In 1925, she achieved international success at the Decorative Arts Exhibition in Paris, receiving the Gran Prix in four divisions (painting, poster, textile, illustration) and the Diplom d'Honneur for her toy designs. She was involved in decorative architectural painting, polychromy, illustration, stage design (including Karol Szymanowski's Harnasie; 1938), industrial design (kilim designs, toys). She created her own specific style in decoratively stylized, colorful, dynamic and temperamental paintings; tempera, watercolors and gouaches. In their subject matter she referred to legends, beliefs, history and folk customs. She published several graphic volumes (Slavic Idols, 1917 and 1922) and albums of reproductions (Polish Dances, 1927; Pascha, 1929; Piasts, 1929; Slavic Gusła / Magie Slave, 1934). Her works were also popularized by numerous color postcards.