Dimensions: 63 x 485 cm
signed and dated p.g.: 'Anna Bilińska | Paris 1884'.
inv. no. MP 5531 MNW
Literature
"Negro Woman" by Anna Bilinskaya is a mature work by the 27-year-old painter, belonging to the late 19th century fashionable realistic portrait studies of various ethnic types. The half-naked black model embodies exotic beauty, strength and femininity. It is an insightful psychological portrait depicting an alienated person with a magical, enigmatic gaze and a mouth unmoved by a smile, expressing fear and anxiety. The artist may be referring to Marie-Guilhemine Benoist's "Portrait of a Negro Woman," created 80 years earlier, a painting on display in the halls of the Louvre, which became a symbol of women's emancipation and the struggle for human rights, themes very much in vogue in 19th-century France.
Bilinska's painting was created while the painter was studying at the Académie Julian in Paris in the studio of Robert Fleury. The positioning of the portraitist and the undifferentiated background of the painting indicate that it was created in the studio. In her paintings of this period, the painter used an unusual approach to the model seen from below and up close, which may have been due to the limited space in the small studio. The painting was painted with thinly spread paint on a colorful underpainting with an academic fini effect.
Bilińska's oeuvre, which includes portraits, genre scenes and landscapes painted in oil, watercolor and pastels, is in the trend of European realism. Her academic studies prove her excellent mastery of the painting technique.
Renata Higersberger
Collection of Polish Painting to 1914 National Museum in Warsaw
Biography
The most outstanding Polish painter of the 2nd half of the 19th century. Her first drawing teacher was Michal Elwiro Andriolli, who was in exile for participation in the January Uprising in Viatka (now Kirov). From 1875, she studied for 2 years at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1877 she enrolled in Wojciech Gerson's private Drawing Class. At that time she began to exhibit her works at the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Since 1882 she traveled a lot. She stayed in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Italy, studied painting at the Académie Julian in Paris and settled there for many years. She made her debut at the Paris Salon in 1884, when her drawing Figure of a Woman was accepted, also exhibiting her work at the Salon in the following years (1885, 1887, 1892). In 1886 she became a tutor in one of the studios at the Académie Julian in Paris, where she worked until 1892. She achieved great international success by receiving the Silver Medal at the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris for her Self-Portrait. She also exhibited in Berlin and London. In 1892 she returned to Warsaw with her physician husband Antoni Bohdanowicz. Painted mainly portraits, less frequently still lifes, genre scenes and landscapes.
