Waclaw PIOTROWSKI, HOLY ANNA

Oil, canvas on cardboard; 39.5 x 29.5 cm (oval)
Based on St. Anne of Solitude by Leonardo da Vinci
Estimate 700 - 800
Auction 220, 04.03.2023

Wacław PIOTROWSKI
1887 Warsaw- 1967 Warsaw
First learned to draw at the Warsaw Drawing School, then, in 1907-11, studied at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, initially studying sculpture there under Xawery Dunikowski, then painting under Kazimierz Stabrowski, Konrad Krzyzanowski, Edward Trojanowski and Stanisław Lentz. He made his debut in 1910 in Warsaw's Zachęta Gallery. Then he took part in further exhibitions until 1939. In 1919-22 he stayed in France, primarily in Paris. There he participated in exhibitions (salons) organized by the Société des Artistes Français and the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, including the Salon d'Automne in 1920. In the same year he was invited to and participated in an exhibition in London organized by The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. In 1921, he had a solo exhibition in Paris at Galerie Devambez, with which he was then bound by a two-year painting contract. In 1924 he painted landscapes in Venice and Naples, and in 1926 only in Venice.
During several periods of his life, he painted oil and watercolor landscapes and pen sketches from nature. Above all, however, he was a portraitist. He painted psychological images, of poor people - janitors, messengers, laundresses, residents of Warsaw lodging houses.
In 1928 and the following years, two of his sports portraits were well-known and often reproduced in the press: Stefan Kostrzewski while running over hurdles and Halina Konopacka while pushing a ball. The portrait of Kostrzewski over hurdles was awarded at a pre-Olympic exhibition in Warsaw.