Tadeusz Styka, RUDOWŁOSA, 1930s.

61.0 x 46.0cm - oil, cardboard signed l.d.: TADÉ STYKA_.

On the reverse in white chalk: Dunon; above (ink): nord 63.63. [...]; p.d. obliterated inscription: Tadé S [...].



One look and you belong to him," Louis de Rochefort, an art critic who considered the Polish painter one of the most outstanding portraitists in history, used to say about Tadeusz Styka, emphasizing the artist's virtuoso technique and exceptional sense of observation.



Marie-Louise D'Otrange-Mastai, in turn, wrote: In addition to the Baroque beauty in his art, whose great tradition he is the true heir (...) Tadé Styka was first and foremost a psychologist (...). He never hesitated, he never used half-measures, he was not stingy; the hardness of metal in the underlining structures and, moreover, the chromatic sonority, ranging from the piercing tone of a sweet soprano in female portraits, to the deep echoes of brown in male characterizations - these are the main features of Tadé Styka's portraits (quoted in Cz. Czaplinski, The Styka family saga / Saga of the Styka family, published by Bicentennial Publishing Corporation, New York 1988, pp. 123-124).



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



Tadeusz Styka (Kielce 1889 - New York 1954) - son of painter Jan and older brother of Adam Styka, already as a child showed extraordinary artistic abilities. His first teacher was his father. Later Tadeusz studied in Paris with Eugene Carriere and Jean-Jacques Henner. From an early age he exhibited a lot - at the Paris Salons and in many cities in France, London, New York, Chicago, Canada and Poland. He often collaborated with his father by making, among other things, sketches for the intended panorama of the Battle of Grunwald. From 1929 he lived in New York, however, keeping his studio in Paris. He was primarily a portrait painter, painting aristocracy, beautiful women and famous people (Portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1903), Portrait of Pola Negri, Portrait of Ignacy Jan Paderewski). In addition, he was an excellent animalist painter (Lions at a watering hole). He also painted symbolic scenes, genre scenes and religious paintings; the latter often together with his brother Adam.