Olga Boznańska (1865, Kraków – 1940, Paris), Portrait of Angelo Sommaruga, ca. 1930

oil on cardboard, 82 × 54 cm
signed lower left in pencil: “Olga Boznańska”

Provenance:
– Italy, Angelo Sommaruga Collection
– Collection of Maria Caputo Sommaruga (Angelo’s daughter)
– Paris, 2002 – Galerie Marek
– on deposit at the Museum of the City of Łódź
– Maciej Musiał Collection
– Polswiss Art Auction House, auction on December 12, 2017, lot 30
– Poland, private collection

Exhibited:
– National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw, “Olga Boznańska,” February 25–May 2, 2015.
– National Museum in Kraków, Kraków, “Olga Boznańska,” October 25, 2014 – February 1, 2015.
Reproduced in:
– A. Król, “The Unknown Boznańska,” Turlej Foundation, 2005, p. 201.
– B. Ilkosz, “Records of Change: Polish Art from the Collection of Krzysztof Musiał,” National Museum in Wrocław, Wrocław 2008, p. 88.
– E. Bobrowska, U. Kozakowska-Zaucha, “Olga Boznańska,” National Museum in Kraków, Kraków 2014, p. 258.
– “Olga Boznańska,” National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 2015, p. 228.

“What did I paint during those years in Paris? The same things I paint today. Above all, portraits. A living person is always more interesting to me than all those contrived books and decanters.”
Olga Boznańska, quoted in: Junius, “At Olga Boznańska’s in Paris,” in *Tygodnik Ilustrowany* 1938, no. 42, p. 806.

“People interest her above all else. As a portraitist and psychologist, she is drawn not only to a person’s outward appearance but also to their inner self, which she brings to light through the eyes. The face often dissolves into unfocused lines; the paint seeps into the soft cardboard background, and only the distinct, dark, expressive patches of the eyes speak for the whole. To let them take center stage, Boznańska tones down the color of the dress and readily hides the shine of the hair under a hat. Do her portraits resemble the originals? Certainly in some single, subtle detail perceptible only to the artist; in any case, today it is not a matter of exact reproduction—given the current state of photography, not even the greatest realist could attempt such a thing. Rather, in the way the model is portrayed, we seek a spiritual—and sometimes physical—kinship with the artist.”
A. Wyleżyńska, “Olga Boznańska,” in *Bluszcz* 1934, no. 20, pp. 603–604

Angelo Sommaruga (1857 Milan – 1941 ibid.), an Italian publisher, journalist, and art dealer, founded the progressive and anticlerical daily newspaper *La Farfalla* in Cagliari in 1876. He then moved to Bologna, and later to Rome, where, between 1881 and 1885, his publishing efforts resulted in the publication of over 130 works by such innovative authors as Gabriel d’Annunzio, Giosue Carducci, and Edmund de Amicis were published. In 1885, he fled Italy for Buenos Aires following a scandal surrounding the magazine *Le Forche Caudine*. In Argentina, he took up the art trade, which he also pursued in the United States. One of his main endeavors was the promotion of the work of the Italian Impressionists, the so-called Macchiaioli. After returning to Europe and settling in Paris, he continued to work as an art dealer while simultaneously building his own collection, which included works by French and American artists, such as George Oberteuffer (1878–1940), as well as Polish artists active in Paris at the time, including Olga Boznańska and Eugeniusz Zak. The collection was inherited by his daughter, Maria Caputo. (Compiled by E. Bobrowska and U. Kozakowska-Zaucha, “Olga Boznańska,” National Museum in Kraków, Kraków 2014, p. 258.)