Dimensions: 51.5 x 73 cm
signed, dated and inscribed l.d.: 'Anna Bilińska | Beg-Meil .1891._'
on the reverse of the stamp with the number: '20'
Provenance
private collection, Warsaw
Exhibited
Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland, Warsaw, 1893 (most likely the same)
Literature
Artist. Anna Bilińska 1854-1893, exhibition catalog, National Museum in Warsaw, scholarly ed. Agnieszka Bagińska, Renata Higersberger, Warsaw 2021, cat. no. 312 (works mentioned), p. 355 (most likely identical)
Janina Wiercińska, Catalogue of works exhibited at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1860-1914, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1969, p. 23 (most likely identical)
Report of the Committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland for the year 1893, Warsaw 1894, p. 33 (most likely identical)
Biography
The most outstanding Polish painter of the 2nd half of the 19th century. Her first drawing teacher was Michal Elviro Andriolli, who was in exile for participation in the January Uprising in Viatka (now Kirov). From 1875, she studied for 2 years at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1877 she enrolled in Wojciech Gerson's private Drawing Class. At that time she began to exhibit her works at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Since 1882 she traveled a lot. She stayed in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Italy, studied painting at the Académie Julian in Paris and settled there for many years. She made her debut at the Paris Salon in 1884, when her drawing Figure of a Woman was accepted, exhibiting her work at the Salon in the following years as well (1885, 1887, 1892). In 1886 she became a tutor in one of the studios at the Académie Julian in Paris, where she worked until 1892. She achieved great international success by receiving the Silver Medal at the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris for her Self-Portrait. She also exhibited in Berlin and London. In 1892 she returned to Warsaw with her physician husband Antoni Bohdanowicz. Painted mainly portraits, less frequently still lifes, genre scenes and landscapes.
