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"The Last Nude"

Part of the collection: Malarstwo i rysunek

Popularization note

Bolesław Jan Czedekowski (1885–1969) was a Polish painter born in Voinyliv, in Eastern Galicia. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and later became a student of Professor Kazimierz Pochwalski and Heinrich von Angeli, two renowned portrait painters. He opened his first studio in Vienna and was perhaps most associated with this city during his early artistic career. He also lived in Vienna during World War I, gradually gaining recognition for his portraits of aristocratic women and the wives of high-ranking officers. He exhibited his art in Vienna, Paris, Warsaw, and Kraków, though it was not initially well-received in Poland. After World War II, he immigrated to the United States. In the 1960s, he returned to Vienna, where he passed away on 8 July 1969. He was buried in Lofer, near Salzburg.

"The Last Nude" is a large composition maintained in cool tones. In the foreground, the painter portrayed himself. Seated on a stool in front of an easel, the artist is turned with his back to the viewer. He is dressed in a blue jacket or a similar work garment he uses for painting. His legs are covered with a rug, underneath which one can see his left shoe, nearly in the same brown-rust colour as the rug. In his left hand, he holds three brushes and a palette, while in his raised right hand, another brush is held. Death, emerging from the darkness, attempts to take the brush from him. The artist depicted Death as a man with clearly outlined protruding ribs and a corpse-like skull. The canvas on the easel is blank, waiting for the first stroke of the brush. Behind the easel, partially in shadow, is a half-dressed model preparing to pose, observing the pantomime of the artist's struggle with Death. Her body’s posture, frozen mid-motion, and her face lifted toward the skull with its empty eye sockets, perfectly convey the sense of dread that must accompany her. The impression of movement in this otherwise silent scene demonstrates the painter's artistic skill. The background is composed of ashen green surrounding the model and deep black, from which Death emerges—or perhaps into which it blends. The painting was created in 1968, when B.J. Czedekowski was 83 years old, one year before his death.

Dorota Błoniarz

Information about the object

Information about this object "The Last Nude"

Author / creator

Bolesław Jan Czedekowski

Object type

painting

Technique

olej

Material

canvas, oil-color

Creation time / dating

2. połowa XX wieku

Creation / finding place

powstanie: Wiedeń (Austria, Europa)

Owner

Muzeum - Zamek w Łańcucie

Identification number

S.12329MŁ

Location / status

object on display Muzeum-Zamek w Łańcucie, ul. Zamkowa 1, 37-100 Łańcut

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