Olga Boznańska (1865 Kraków - 1940 Paris), Portrait of Ludwik Posadzy

oil, cardboard, 86 × 60 cm light frame
notations in pencil on the reverse

Provenance:
- Private collection, Lodz (purchased circa 1950 from Rozalia Posadza (1915-1991), Ludwik's adopted daughter)
- collection of Ludwik Posadza (1878-1939)

The work will be included in the catalog raisonné of Olga Boznańska's paintings, prepared by Urszula Kozakowska-Zaucha (National Museum in Cracow) and Ewa Bobrowska-Jakubowska.

Attached to the painting is the opinion of Mrs. Stefania Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska and Urszula Kozakowska-Zaucha


"I produce for myself a spiritual image of people who interest me, only such."
Olga Boznańska, note in the collection of the MNK, quoted by H. Blum, "Olga Boznańska", Warsaw 1974 p. 32


"Ms. Boznanska is an intimist in the proper sense of the word, if it is to mean a hidden and restrained subtlety. One feels in her a jaded and haughty soul that wants to reach another true reality, the very interior of the beings expressed by the brush, beyond the fleeting externality of appearances."
Louis Vauxcelles, quoted by H. Blum, "Olga Boznańska", Warsaw 1974 p. 38

The figure portrayed in the painting is Ludwik Posadzy (1878-1939), a doctor of philosophy by education, also an educator and librarian by profession. In 1907/1908 Posadzy was awarded a private scholarship to travel to Paris and London, the aftermath of which was his writing and publication in print in 1909 of "On the Mission of European Nations. Pomysły do filozofii dziejów Francji, Niemiec i Polski" ("Polish Biographical Dictionary", vol. XXVII/4, z. 115, Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wyd. Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1983, p. 679). Also preserved is Ludwik Posady's correspondence from 1908, addressed to Olga Boznańska. Thus, it is highly likely that the portrait was made by the painter in 1907-1908. The acquaintance between the artist and Ludwik may have occurred during salon meetings at the home of biologist Jan Danysz (1860-1928), with whom Olga was close friends and whom she portrayed twice (in 1901 and around 1928). Meetings of the Polish intelligentsia community were regularly held at Danysz's home. Frequent attendees of these meetings, in addition to Boznanska and Posady, included Kazimierz Wize, Wojciech Gielecki, Jadwiga and Henryk Tryczl and Maria Sklodowska-Curie. Analyzing the surviving letters, one can draw the conclusion that Olga and Ludwik remained in cordial relations. It is known that Posadzy was also acquainted with Boznanska's sister Iza, with whom he also kept in touch by letter.

Ludwik Posadzy, was born in 1878 in Szymborz as the son of Franciszek Posadzy and Katarzyna, née Pieczonka. After passing his matriculation exam in 1899, he took up studies at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Berlin. His research interests oscillated around the philosophy of history. He received his doctorate in philosophy in 1906, writing a dissertation entitled: "Der eniwicklungsgeshichtliche Gedanke bei Herder." From 1906 to 1910, he taught history and literature at secret sets of young people and had lectures for the intelligentsia in Poznań and other cities in Greater Poland. After 1912, his research interests focused mainly on pedagogical issues. He traveled to Italy, where he met Maria Montessori and learned about the educational system she proposed for the youngest children. In 1914, he married Stefania Marciszewska. After the outbreak of World War I, he was interned in Kazan on the Volga River, where for the next five years he and his wife ran an orphanage for Polish children and taught at a parish school. In 1920, Mr. and Mrs. Posadza returned to Poznan, bringing home the five youngest children they had cared for. The youngest girl, Rozalia, was adopted by them; they had no offspring of their own. From 1923 to 1934 Ludwik Posadzy worked in the university library. At the same time, he and his wife published volumes of the "Library of Kindergarten Education." In 1930 he took a lecturing position at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Poznan, where he taught pedagogical issues. Posadzy pursued a postdoctoral degree; these efforts were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and his tragic death at Fort VII in Poznań on November 3, 1939. The last publication he wrote was "Pedagogical Views of Adam Mickiewicz" (1937).