Dimensions: 63 x 57 cm
Signed l.d.: 'Józef Mehoffer'.
Inscribed in pen on the reverse: 'Halina Jentysówna daughter of Tadeusz and Julia née Szumowska | I° Bardzińska | II° Żeleńska Władysławowa | rys. Józef Mehoffer'.
Origins
From the collection of Stanisław Żeleński (1905-1981) and Janina Sokołowska-Żeleńska (1900-1992), Warsaw
private collection, Warsaw
Biography
He was a painter, graphic artist, decorator, stage designer and educator. He studied painting in 1887-94 at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow under Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko, at the same time studying law at the Jagiellonian University. He continued his studies at Parisian universities: Académie Julian, Académie Colarossi (under P. - J. Blanc, G. Courtois) and École des Beaux-Arts (under Léon Bonnat). After his studies in 1894-96, he alternated between the country, Paris and Switzerland. For his design of stained-glass windows for the Freiburg collegiate church, he was awarded first prize in an international competition (the stained-glass windows were completed until 1934). In 1896 he settled in Cracow, and from 1900 he was a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was a member and co-founder of the Society of Polish Artists Art (1897). He painted decorative portraits, symbolic compositions, landscapes and still lifes.