Portrait of a dark-haired lady

This portrait of a charming young lady belongs to Stabrowski’s early works. However, it was created not after the completion of his studies in St Petersburg or his traineeship in Ilya Repin’s studio (1895), but after his trip to Paris, where he stayed in 1897 and 1898. The very approach towards the model and the manner of painting reflect the skills he gained from his academic education, and at the same time predict a new phase in his oeuvre, which in 1902 led him into the ranks of the Polish group of modernists Sztuka which was engaged in developing Art Nouveau principles. Portrait of a dark-haired lady was kept in the family collection of Stabrowski’s wife Julia Janiszewska, which lets us guess that the model was in some way related to the family. The picture was displayed in Stabrowski’s solo exhibition at Łazienki in Warsaw in 1997, and reproduced in the catalogue of the exhibition, Kazimierz Strabrowski 1869–1929. Kolekcja prac ze zbiorów prywatnych i Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Kazimierz Stabrowski (1869–1929) developed a special interest in portraiture while studying at St Petersburg Academy of Art under the celebrated Russian portraitist Ilya Repin (1844–1930). One of his first sitters was his fiancée, a student at the same academy, the sculptress Julia Janiszewska (1869–1941), whom he married in 1902. There is a likelihood that the sitter for his Portrait of a dark-haired lady was his future wife. The portrait was kept for a long time in the collection of the family of Julia Janiszewska-Stabrowska, and there is some similarity between the woman in the painting and the artist’s wife. However, the mood and the expression of the subject in this painting differ considerably from other known portraits of Julija, so it is possible that it depicts a close relative.
A dark-haired woman wearing black is portrayed against a large white fireplace. The painting is based on a subtle blend of black and grey. The light triangle of the fireplace serves as the perfect background for the woman’s head. In terms of colour, the painting is composed in such a way as to direct the viewer to look at her. The dark space of the room, the sombre opening of the cold fireplace, and the black dress with a high collar framing the tender pink oval of the face, seem to emanate warmth and light. The portrait is painted in a realistic way, but it also appears as a general image of the woman as the homemaker. We can perceive some elements of Symbolism in the painting.

Teksto autorė Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Kazimieras Stabrauskas – M. K. Čiurlionis teacher”, 24 September – 6 January 2015, National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, Kaunas; “The Break of Dawn. Lithuanian Visual Arts prior to 1918”, 10 May – 31 May 2019, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art (V. Putvinskio St. 55, Kaunas)

This portrait of a charming young lady belongs to Stabrowski’s early works. However, it was created not after the completion of his studies in St Petersburg or his traineeship in Ilya Repin’s studio (1895), but after his trip to Paris, where he stayed in 1897 and 1898. The very approach towards the model and the manner of painting reflect the skills he gained from his academic education, and at the same time predict a new phase in his oeuvre, which in 1902 led him into the ranks of the Polish group of modernists Sztuka which was engaged in developing Art Nouveau principles. Portrait of a dark-haired lady was kept in the family collection of Stabrowski’s wife Julia Janiszewska, which lets us guess that the model was in some way related to the family. The picture was displayed in Stabrowski’s solo exhibition at Łazienki in Warsaw in 1997, and reproduced in the catalogue of the exhibition, Kazimierz Strabrowski 1869–1929. Kolekcja prac ze zbiorów prywatnych i Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie.

Text author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė

Kazimierz Stabrowski (1869–1929) developed a special interest in portraiture while studying at St Petersburg Academy of Art under the celebrated Russian portraitist Ilya Repin (1844–1930). One of his first sitters was his fiancée, a student at the same academy, the sculptress Julia Janiszewska (1869–1941), whom he married in 1902. There is a likelihood that the sitter for his Portrait of a dark-haired lady was his future wife. The portrait was kept for a long time in the collection of the family of Julia Janiszewska-Stabrowska, and there is some similarity between the woman in the painting and the artist’s wife. However, the mood and the expression of the subject in this painting differ considerably from other known portraits of Julija, so it is possible that it depicts a close relative.
A dark-haired woman wearing black is portrayed against a large white fireplace. The painting is based on a subtle blend of black and grey. The light triangle of the fireplace serves as the perfect background for the woman’s head. In terms of colour, the painting is composed in such a way as to direct the viewer to look at her. The dark space of the room, the sombre opening of the cold fireplace, and the black dress with a high collar framing the tender pink oval of the face, seem to emanate warmth and light. The portrait is painted in a realistic way, but it also appears as a general image of the woman as the homemaker. We can perceive some elements of Symbolism in the painting.

Teksto autorė Rūta Janonienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Kazimieras Stabrauskas – M. K. Čiurlionis teacher”, 24 September – 6 January 2015, National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, Kaunas; “The Break of Dawn. Lithuanian Visual Arts prior to 1918”, 10 May – 31 May 2019, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art (V. Putvinskio St. 55, Kaunas)