Vlastimil Hofman, HELENA WITH THE BOY, 1929

92.5 x 64.8cm - oil, canvas signed l.g. (on beam): Wlastimil Hofmann 1929

On the back an author's note (in black paint): This painting was purchased by | Helena Fliszewska 1939 | Wlastimil Hofman.

On the upper loom strip (in pencil): This painting was purchased | by Helena Fliszewska 1938; on the upper, lower and left slat of the loom the stamp of the store of painting implements ISKRA & KARMAŃSKI | KRAKÓW; below the stamp with the number referring to the size of the sub-painting (respectively): 64 and 92; on the lower loom strip a deposit sticker of the District Museum in Rzeszow (print): Vlastimil Hoffman. Girl with a Duck, oil, canvas, private collection, inv. no. | Dep. MRA 2046.

The girl portrayed in the painting is Helena Fliszewska (b. 1907), mentioned by the painter, his model, friend and collector of his paintings.



The painting has been exhibited and reproduced:

- Unknown Works from a Private Collection, Rzeszow Regional Museum 5 March - 20 May 2015;

- Artistic Credo. Unknown works from a private collection, exhibition catalog 16 XI 2016 - 26 II 2017, edited by Maria Stopyra, Rzeszów 2016, p. 18.

♣ 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).

Wlastimil Hofman / Vlastimil Hofmann (Prague 1881 - Szklarska Poreba 1970) studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow - initially under Florian Cynk, later also under Jan Stanislawski, Leon Wyczółkowski and Jacek Malczewski. In 1899-1902 he still studied with Jean Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During World War I he stayed in Prague and Paris; from 1920 he lived permanently in Cracow. He exhibited a lot; he belonged to many creative associations - he was a co-founder of the "Group of Five" (1905) and the "Group of Zero" (1908), a member of the Association of Czech Artists "Manes", and from 1911 a member of the Polish Artists' Society "Sztuka". During World War II, through the USSR and Turkey, he made his way to Jerusalem, from where he returned to Krakow in 1946. Since 1947 he lived permanently in Szklarska Poreba. Hofman painted primarily fantastic-symbolic compositions with folk motifs, as well as genre scenes, portraits and landscapes. His paintings, despite close analogies and connections with the art of Malczewski, are always distinguished by their individual character, style and mood.