Zofia Stryjeńska, BEFORE THE CHAPEL, after 1945

90,3 x 71,3cm - tempera, gouache, canvas tempera, gouache, canvas glued on fiberboard

Signed p.d.: Z. STRYIENSKA

Provenance: collection of the Paskowski Family in the USA. Dr. Richard and Catherine Paskowski were both born in New York as children of Polish immigrants. Although they lived in the United States, they cherished their Polish heritage, traveled throughout Poland and spent years amassing a fine collection of Polish art. They made many donations to Polish causes in the US. They also wanted the remainder of the collection to come back to Poland and please Polish collectors.

The simplified spelling of the name suggests that the painting was created after the artist left Poland in 1945. At the time, Stryjeńska settled in Geneva, where she worked mainly on commissions from Poles living in France and the US. The painting is an excellent example of her painting, in which she brilliantly uses perspective shortcuts to build dynamic compositions. In her painting, Stryjeńska wanted to escape from the gray reality that surrounded her, so her works are filled with vivid and saturated colors.

♣ a fee will be added to the auctioned price in addition to other costs, based on 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).

* A border VAT of 8% will be added to the auctioned price in addition to other costs (in accordance with §12 item 2 of the Regulations).

Zofia Stryjeńska, née Lubanska (Krakow 1891 - Geneva 1976) - painter, illustrator, stage designer - was one of the most 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 Gusla / Magie Slave, 1934). Her works were also popularized by numerous color postcards.