Bust of Orlowska

Julia Smolkowna

Basic information

ID: С-I-1973
Author: Julia Smolkowna
Name: Bust of Orlowska
Date of creation: 1909
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Culture: Contemporary times
Technique: moulding
Material: plaster
Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm): 51.4 x 41 x 33

Additionally

Type: sculpture 3D
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait bust

Information about author

Author: Julia Smolkowna
Artist's lifetime: 1880–1944
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland
Biography: Julia Smolkowna (1880–1944) was a sculptor, member of the Association of Polish Women Artists in Lviv, and granddaughter of the famous Galician politician Franciszek Smolka. She studied at the Lviv School of Art and Industry (1909–1913) and later in Paris (1913–1914). Between 1917 and 1923, she participated in the Association of Polish Women Artists exhibitions in Lviv, where her works were well received. From 1925, she taught sculpture at the Association of Polish Women Artists studio in Lviv at 12 Stefan Batory Street (now Kniazia Romana Street). She died on 28 July 1944 and was buried in the Lychakiv cemetery. The artist is the author of portrait busts, genre compositions, memorial projects, memorial portrait medallions, and bas-reliefs commissioned by A. Zachariewicz and A. Piller and placed on the facades and interiors of some buildings in Lviv. She worked in plaster and bronze. She used a formal system typical of 1900–1918, combining the inspirations of Auguste Rodin, Impressionism, and Secession. In her later works, she used the artistic language of modernised Classicism, "academic Realism," and, less frequently, Art Deco.

Object description

"The Bust of Orlowska" ("Portrait of an Older Woman") (1909) is Smolkowna's first easel sculpture, created during her studies at the Lviv Art and Industrial School in 1909–1913. The artist's novice stage is indicated by the minimalism of the artistic generalisation, a thorough study of the clothes, the face and its anatomical features; a subtle psychological characterisation and skilful modelling of forms evidence her outstanding creative talent. The plastic characteristics of the work are the painterly quality and the impressionistic dynamism of the forms, characteristic of the sculptor's work in the following years.

Inscriptions

Signed and dated on the right: "JS / 09"; back: "Stara / Orłowska".

Portrayed person