Alicja Halicka, STILL NATURE WITH Peeled Apple, 1930

55,5 x 46,5cm - oil, canvas

Signed p.d.: Halicka

On the reverse a paper sticker (print): HAL 02; next to the collector's notes.



Provenance:

In 1992, the painting was purchased from Marek Mielniczuk for the collection of Tom Podel (Podlasinski, 1938-2011), an American engineer and entrepreneur with Polish roots. Tom Podel's collection was one of the largest private collections of Polish art in the world. The collection consisted of works by Polish painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Chelmonski, Slewinski, Boznanska, Pankiewicz, Kisling, Zak, Makowski, Muter, Stanislawski, Malczewski and Mehoffer. In 2002, it was presented at the National Museums in Krakow and Wroclaw, as well as at the Zachęta National Museum.



The painting exhibited and reproduced:

- A. Król, A. Tanikowski, Colors of Identity. Polish art from the American collection of Tom Podel, National Museum in Cracow, Cracow 2001, p. 219, cat. no. 114;

- K. Zagrodzki, A. Winiarski, Alicja Halicka - Masters of École de Paris, Muza SA Publishing House, Warsaw 2011, pp. 66-67, ill. s. 67.



As early as the 1920s, Halicka reached for a more conventional style, close to the Nabists, thus departing from Cubism. Her still lifes are reminiscent of classical 17th century Dutch painting. They are characterized by deep color, decorativeness, and flatness of the color patch. The color scheme, with its use of blues and ultramarines, was sometimes close to the paintings of her professor, Paul Sérusier, as well as the still lifes of Cézanne. Halicka continued to paint still lifes in her later years, as exemplified by the still life with peeled apple on display.

As a pupil of Leon Wyczółkowski, Jozef Pankiewicz and Wojciech Weiss in Krakow, and later a pupil of Paul Sérusier in Paris, Halicka successfully combined her Polish roots with the influences of French art, creating an individual, eclectic and decorative style in her still lifes.

♣ A fee will be added to the auctioned price, in addition to other costs, based on the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Alicja Halicka (Krakow 1889 - Paris 1974) - painter, illustrator, stage designer - pupil of Leon Wyczółkowski, Józef Pankiewicz and Wojciech Weiss at the private School of Maria Niedzielska in Krakow. In her youth, she traveled extensively throughout Europe. In 1912, she briefly studied in Munich; at the end of that year, she came to Paris. Here, at the Académie Ranson, she supplemented her education in the studios of Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier. In 1913 she married painter Louis Marcoussis (1878/83-1941). During World War I, she stayed in Normandy. In the 1920s she lived permanently in Paris, where, among other things, she worked as a decorator and fashion designer. Between 1935 and 1938 she traveled several times to the United States, where, among other things, she designed decorations and costumes for the ballet Le jardin public, staged by the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. As a set designer, she also worked with American Ballet on The Fairy's Kiss, also staged at New York's Metropolitan Opera. During World War II, she was in the south of France, including Vichy, Cusset (where L. Marcoussis died in 1941) and Marseille. After 1945, she traveled extensively, was in India twice (1947 and 1952), visited Poland (1952 and 1956) and the USSR (1960). She painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes, interiors and figural scenes influenced by French art, especially Cubism. In the 1930s she painted, among other things, views of Paris inspired by the paintings of R. Dufy, and after the war also views from her many travels. In the 1920s she also began creating, so-called, "Romanses Capitonnes" (embossed romances), specific compositions combining painting, relief and collage. In 1946, she published a volume of memoirs entitled. Hier. Souvenirs (Polish edition entitled Yesterday. Memories, Krakow 1971). The artist participated in numerous exhibitions in galleries and Salons in Paris (including Salon d'Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon des Tuileries, Salon de Surindépendandants), as well as exhibitions in The Hague, Vienna, Brussels, London, Zurich, New York, Chicago. She also had a number of solo exhibitions - in Paris, London, Philadelphia, after the war also in Warsaw and India (1952).
Note: in earlier literature (including Wikipedia) on Alicja Halicka, there were different and conflicting records of her life dates - (1895-1975) or also (1884-1975). Only a few years ago, thanks to the discovery of previously unknown documents, the correct dates of the artist's birth and death were known: 20. 12. 1889 - 30. 12. 1974.