Dimensions: 102 x 145 cm
Signed and dated lower right: 'andPronaszko 1951'
On the painting stretcher: a paper label with a description and stamps from customs and the historic preservation office, framing notes; on the frame: a paper label from the framing studio
Provenance
from the artist’s estate
collection of the artist’s wife, Irena Pronaszko (1900–1979), Warsaw
Collection of Irena Pronaszko’s brother, Ryszard Kosarski, and his heirs, Warsaw–London (donated by Irena Pronaszko in 1962)
Private collection, Poland (purchased in 2010)
Bibliography
Anna Wierzbicka, “Andrzej Pronaszko: A Well-Known Set Designer and a Forgotten Painter,” *Biuletyn Historii Sztuki*, Vol. LVI, 1994, No. 1–2, p. 111 (mentioned in the text)
Andrzej Pronaszko, Notes of a Set Designer: Memoirs—Articles—Letters, ed. Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw 1972, p. 61 (mentioned in the text)
Biography
Brother of Zbigniew Pronaszko. In 1906, he attended the Industrial School in Kraków. From 1909 to 1910, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under L. Wyczółkowski and S. Dębicki. He continued his studies in Munich and Paris. During World War I, he stayed in Zakopane with his brother, where he worked as a set designer. In 1917, together with his brother and T. Czyżewski, he founded the “Formalists” group. He designed sets primarily for theaters in Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków, and Vilnius. In 1957, he was a professor at the State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw. His set designs were characterized by the architectural construction of the sets and costumes. In 1955, he received the First-Class State Award.
