A Brittany Woman On Her Doorstep (1889) by Anna Bilińska (1857–1893)National Museum in Wrocław
“Breton Woman Standing on a Doorstep” (1889)
The painter is Anna Bilińska, one of the most eminent Polish female artists of the 19th century, who lived in Paris for many years. She was born in 1857 in Zlatopil in Ukraine, and she died in 1893 in Warsaw.
The portrait by Bilińska brings to mind the Polish-Breton artistic connections from the 19th century until the 1940s. The artists who were based in Brittany included Olga Boznańska, Henryk Gotlib, Tadeusz Makowski, Mela Muter, Józef Pankiewicz, Witkacy, and Władysław Ślewiński.
A Country Cottage in Le Pouldu (Landscape with a House in Brittany; A Country Cottage by the Sea) (c. 1892) by Władysław Ślewiński (1856–1918)National Museum in Wrocław
Władysław Ślewiński, “Cabin in Le Pouldu” (Chata w Le Pouldu), circa 1892
Władysław Ślewiński (1856–1918) allegedly believed that a Polish nobleman can only cultivate land or make art. He was born into a family of landowners, and he even started university with a view to running the family estate, but he quickly moved to Paris and then to Brittany.
Self-Portrait (1889) by Paul GauguinNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
In the capital of France, Ślewiński’s talent as a painter emerged suddenly and quickly reached maturity. His art was influenced by Paul Gauguin, whom he met in Paris. Ślewiński joined a group of painters from Pont-Aven in Brittany, centered around the master.
A Country Cottage in Le Pouldu (Landscape with a House in Brittany; A Country Cottage by the Sea) (c. 1892) by Władysław Ślewiński (1856–1918)National Museum in Wrocław
Since that time, he avidly implemented Gauguin’s idea of synthetism in his paintings, namely he abandoned detailed depictions of nature and aimed for simplicity in composition.
In his landscape painting Cabin in Le Pouldu, the artist depicted a house in Brittany against the background of the sea in Kerluron, near Le Pouldu. The Isle of Witches is visible on the horizon. Muted and harmoniously combined colors enhance the mood of nostalgia and melancholy.
I. Gołaj, G. Wojturski, A. Ziemlańska | mnwr.pl
