DOI issue:
No. 386 (May 1925)
DOI article:[Studio-talk]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21402#0303
POLAND
POLAND—Mr. Jan Boleslaw Czede-
kowski, to give him his full name, is
not yet known to the British public,
although he already possesses quite a
substantial fame as a portrait painter on
the Continent. On the occasion of a very
successful exhibition of his latest canvases,
eighteen in all, at Knoedler's, 17, Place
Vendome, Paris, it is worth while to give
a few details concerning this clever artist's
past career and latest achievements. 0
To start with, Mr. Czedekowski, who
is now about 40, is a pupil of the well-
known Professor Pochwalski, of the Vienna
Art Academy, where he studied for a
number of years and gained while still
learning several important academic
honours. This very soon enabled him
to gain access to the most exclusive circles
of Viennese society before the War;
so much so that he had opportunity of
painting the late Emperor Charles of
Austria, as well as a great number of
Austro-Hungarian statesmen and society
people. He went later on to the States
for about two years, achieving further
successes, and finally settled for good in
Paris, 0 a 0 0 0 0
His work in Paris has been equally
fruitful in many notable achievements,
as to which local critics are all agreed.
Having finally freed himself from his
tutor's strong academic influence which
marked his earlier work, Czedekowski has
developed a rich, noble and individual
style of his own capable of treating every
model with equal concentration and artistic
reproduction of its individual charac-
teristics, moods, expressions, subtleties and
psychological niceties. He shows a par-
ticular insight in male studies, wherein he
underlines skilfully their own peculiarities
with a range which is both wide and
treated with equal force, perception of
harmony and expression in colour and
design. 0 0 a 0 a
No two portraits of his are alike at
Knoedler's, and yet there is everywhere his
personal atmosphere and touch common
to all, and distinction as well as nobility
pervading every canvas from child studies
to portraits of statesmen. Take, for in-
stance the charming picture of the little
Baroness Therese Fould Springer in a
Velasquez costume and notice the sim-
" BARONESS THERESE
FOULD SPRINGER "
BY J. B. CZEDEKOWSKI
plicity of its composition combined with
fairy-like expression and freshness of
touch ; then, again, in such studies of Mrs.
Paanakker, Sexton Thomson, Sokolowska,
or de Fouquieres, their natural nobility
joined with exquisite grace enhanced by a
masterful treatment of drapery and back-
ground which subtly increases the attrac-
tiveness of the whole composition without
reducing any truthfulness or individuality.
Special reference must be made to the
male portraits. Among these the best are
those undoubtedly of Mr. de Moro-
Giafferi, the well-known French lawyer
and Under-Secretary for Technical Edu-
cation, the Polish Ambassador in Paris,
Mr. A. Chlapowski, Mr. Davey, both
brothers de Fouquieres, the celebrated
French fencing champion, Gaudin, and
Mr. Kleczkowski. 0000
It should be added that the success of
Mr. Czedekowski in Paris is also a success
for Polish art in general, which, it is to
be regretted, is not sufficiently known
abroad, although by no means inferior to
better advertised productions of other
countries. E. de Kleczkowski.
297
POLAND—Mr. Jan Boleslaw Czede-
kowski, to give him his full name, is
not yet known to the British public,
although he already possesses quite a
substantial fame as a portrait painter on
the Continent. On the occasion of a very
successful exhibition of his latest canvases,
eighteen in all, at Knoedler's, 17, Place
Vendome, Paris, it is worth while to give
a few details concerning this clever artist's
past career and latest achievements. 0
To start with, Mr. Czedekowski, who
is now about 40, is a pupil of the well-
known Professor Pochwalski, of the Vienna
Art Academy, where he studied for a
number of years and gained while still
learning several important academic
honours. This very soon enabled him
to gain access to the most exclusive circles
of Viennese society before the War;
so much so that he had opportunity of
painting the late Emperor Charles of
Austria, as well as a great number of
Austro-Hungarian statesmen and society
people. He went later on to the States
for about two years, achieving further
successes, and finally settled for good in
Paris, 0 a 0 0 0 0
His work in Paris has been equally
fruitful in many notable achievements,
as to which local critics are all agreed.
Having finally freed himself from his
tutor's strong academic influence which
marked his earlier work, Czedekowski has
developed a rich, noble and individual
style of his own capable of treating every
model with equal concentration and artistic
reproduction of its individual charac-
teristics, moods, expressions, subtleties and
psychological niceties. He shows a par-
ticular insight in male studies, wherein he
underlines skilfully their own peculiarities
with a range which is both wide and
treated with equal force, perception of
harmony and expression in colour and
design. 0 0 a 0 a
No two portraits of his are alike at
Knoedler's, and yet there is everywhere his
personal atmosphere and touch common
to all, and distinction as well as nobility
pervading every canvas from child studies
to portraits of statesmen. Take, for in-
stance the charming picture of the little
Baroness Therese Fould Springer in a
Velasquez costume and notice the sim-
" BARONESS THERESE
FOULD SPRINGER "
BY J. B. CZEDEKOWSKI
plicity of its composition combined with
fairy-like expression and freshness of
touch ; then, again, in such studies of Mrs.
Paanakker, Sexton Thomson, Sokolowska,
or de Fouquieres, their natural nobility
joined with exquisite grace enhanced by a
masterful treatment of drapery and back-
ground which subtly increases the attrac-
tiveness of the whole composition without
reducing any truthfulness or individuality.
Special reference must be made to the
male portraits. Among these the best are
those undoubtedly of Mr. de Moro-
Giafferi, the well-known French lawyer
and Under-Secretary for Technical Edu-
cation, the Polish Ambassador in Paris,
Mr. A. Chlapowski, Mr. Davey, both
brothers de Fouquieres, the celebrated
French fencing champion, Gaudin, and
Mr. Kleczkowski. 0000
It should be added that the success of
Mr. Czedekowski in Paris is also a success
for Polish art in general, which, it is to
be regretted, is not sufficiently known
abroad, although by no means inferior to
better advertised productions of other
countries. E. de Kleczkowski.
297