Léopold Franz Kowalski (1856-1931) - Compassion

Léopold Franz Kowalski (1856-1931)
Compassion; portrait of a woman with raised hair
Charcoal and silver highlights on blue paper
Monogrammed “LK” bottom right
Dimensions of the work: 35 x 28 cm
Dimensions of the frame: 50 x 40 cm
Good condition, tiny trace of fold

Painter and French engraver of Polish origin, Léopold Kowalsky was born in Paris in 1856. He followed his first training at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1878 in Henri Lehmann's studio before joining the Académie Julian the following year . He exhibited regularly at the Salon of French artists from 1881 where his work was noticed. As such, he received several distinctions including a bronze medal in 1884. Strongly inspired by his master,

Léopold Kowalsky developed a strong interest in the female figure which he sometimes represented in genre scenes, during activities in outdoors in compositions with vibrant colors, sometimes through more intimate portraits of Parisian high society. It excels in the representation of elegant ladies' roomy drapes. In 1912, the artist left Paris to retire to Eure where he also devoted himself to painting lively landscapes of the Normandy and Breton countryside, revealing a strong post-impressionist inspiration.

During the last twenty years of his life, his only models were his wife and daughter. Our charcoal drawing on blue paper is most likely part of this period. It is a portrait of a young woman in straight profile wearing a low bun. We find, in the finesse of the movement of this bun, all the attention that the artist paid to the hair of his models.