Dimensions: 40.5 x 26.5 cm
22 boards with depictions of rulers from the Piast dynasty, brown leather with a postcard with the image of Mieszko II glued on the face. On five passe-partout small traces of stains, otherwise very good condition of boards. Boards on chalk paper form. 21,5x18,5 (portrait in light passe-partout), mounted in paper passe-partout. Complete portfolio with original wrapper. Depictions of the first rulers of Poland from the Piast dynasty (Piast, Ziemowit, Leszek, Ziemomysł, Mieszko Pierwszy, Bolesław Chrobry, Mieczysław Druga, Kazimierz Odnowiciel, Bolesław Śmiały, Władysław Herman, Bolesław Krzywousty, Władysław the Second, Bolesław Kędzierzawy, Mieczysław the Old, Kazimierz Sprawiedliwy, Leszek the White, Władysław Laskonogi, Bolesław Wstydliwy, Leszek the Black, Przemysław, Władysław Łokietek, Kazimierz Wielki), each portrait in original. publisher's passe-partout with embossed composition title
Condition
Portfolio slightly soiled, damaged edges
Biography
One of the most outstanding Polish artists of the 1st half of the 20th century. She was the wife of the architect and sculptor Karol Stryjeński. In 1909, she began her studies at Maria Niedzielska's painting school for women. In 1911, disguised as a boy, as Tadeusz Grzymała, she began studying painting in Munich (at that time women were not admitted to the academy there). After a year, recognized by her classmates, she left Munich and returned to Cracow. In 1918 she joined the Cracow Workshops as a toy designer and author of graphic tees. From 1921 to 1927 she lived in Zakopane, where her husband worked as director of the Wood Industry School. After their divorce in 1927, she moved to Warsaw. In 1938 she received several commissions from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including a kilim for Emperor Hirohito of Japan. She took part in decorating the interiors of Polish passenger ships: "Batory" and "Piłsudski". She also made frescoes in the Technical and Industrial Museum in Cracow (1917), polychromy of the halls in the Senator's Tower on Wawel Hill (1917) and interior decorations of the Fukier Winery in Warsaw. As a member of the Association of Polish Artists Rhythm (since 1922), she participated in the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925, decorating the main hall of the Polish pavilion designed by J. Czajkowski with six panneaux depicting the Ceremonial Year in Poland. Individual presentations of Stryjeńska's work were held at Warsaw's Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts (1919, 1926), Paris' Galerie Crillon (1921), London's New Art Salon (1927), Lviv's Museum of Art Industry (1932) and Warsaw's Institute of Art Propaganda (1935), among others. Abroad, the artist exhibited her works at the Venice Biennale (1920, 1930, 1932) and at exhibitions organized in 1927-39 by the Society for the Propagation of Polish Art Among Foreigners. In 1929 she received a grand gold medal for book illustrations at the General National Exhibition in Poznań, and in 1932 she won a gold medal at the 18th Venice Biennale. During the period of Stryjeńska's greatest popularity, her works were distributed in the form of volumes, albums and postcards by the Jakub Mortkowicz publishing house, which published, among others, "Polish Dances," "Pascha. Song of the Resurrection", "Piasts" and "Polish Rituals".