Zofia Stryjeńska, CHŁOP Z SIERADZA, 1939

39.5 x 50.0cm - lithograph, stencil, gouache, paper board XXV from the Polish Peasants' Costumes portfolio



Signed on stone p.d.: Z. STRYJENSKA; p.g.: 25

On the reverse: COPYRIGHT BY C. SZWEDZICKI 1939 Nice 1939. published by C. Szwedzicki.

Unframed work.



Published in 1939. Polish Peasants' Costumes is the last of Zofia Stryjeńska's important graphic tomes and at the same time her most extensive work in this field. (...) As a book artist, she may have been familiar, at least since her studies in Munich, with magazines devoted to contemporary fashion illustrated in the stencil (pochoir) technique (...). In Poland, where lithography was preferred, this labor-intensive method of making illustrations, which involved coloring the entire edition by specialized painters, did not catch on. Stryjeńska, always looking for a publishing setting that was as sublime as possible, chose pochoir as the form of publishing her largest-volume portfolio. (...) It was no coincidence that the portfolio was published by Szwedzicki - an experienced publisher operating in Nice. He became famous mainly (...) for his six portfolios devoted to American Indians, published between 1929 and 1952, containing boards with illustrations in stencil technique. Stryjeńska's portfolio refers to them by the graphic solution of the cover: with an illustration pasted on a uniform color background.

The above text is taken from an article by Sviatoslav Lenartovich titled About the "Polish Peasants Costumes" portfolio in the catalog: Zofia Stryjeńska 1891-1976. exhibition at the National Museum in Cracow, X 2008 - I 2009, Cracow 2008, pp. 265-266 [cat. V. I. 4; here also several reproductions].

♣ a fee will be added to the auctioned price in addition to other costs, resulting from the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Zofia Stryjeńska, née Lubanska (Krakow 1891 - Geneva 1976) - painter, illustrator, stage designer - was one of the more 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.