Olga Boznańska (15 April 1865 – 26 October 1940) was a Polish
painter of the turn of the 20th century. She was a notable painter in Poland and Europe, and was stylistically associated with the
French impressionism, though she rejected this label.[1]
Early life
Boznańska was born in
Kraków during foreign
partitions of Poland. She was the daughter of Adam Nowina Boznański, (from a noble Polish family but influenced by
positivism to take up work as a
railway engineer) and Eugénie née Mondan originally from
Valence, France.[2]
Education and artistic training
Boznańska learned drawing first from her mother who was a teacher in the convent school of
Premonstratensians in Imbramowice near Kraków,[3] then with Józef Siedlecki,
Kazimierz Pochwalski and
Antoni Piotrowski between 1883-6. She then studied at the Adrian Baraniecki School for Women.[2] She débuted in 1886 at the Kraków Association of Friends of Fine Arts exhibition.
From 1886–1890 she studied art in the private schools of Karl Kricheldorf and
Wilhelm Dürr in
Munich - as women were not yet permitted at the
Munich Academy.[2]
Career
From then on she devoted herself mostly to
portraits,
still lifes and occasionally
landscapes. She became well connected within the Polish artistic community of Munich, notably
Józef Brandt who became her mentor.[2] Her 1893 Portrait of Paul Nauen obtained her first public success - being awarded the gold medal at the International Exhibition in Vienna the following year.[2]
^
abIrena Kossowska, Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk (July 2002).
"Olga Boznańska". Sztuki wizualne. Warsaw: Instytut Adama Mickiewicza Culture.pl. Retrieved 6 November 2012.