Jacek Malczewski (1854 Radom - 1929 Krakow), Portrait of Stanisław Bryniarski, 1903.

oil, canvas, 66.4 × 36.5 cm
Signed along the lower left edge: "Jacek/Malczewski/1903"

on the loom, pencil inscription: "Bryniarski/ Malczewski".

Attached to the painting is the opinion of Dr. Stefania Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska, 2017

"In the multithreaded and symbolically extremely complicated work of Jacek Malczewski, the primary role was played by a man and his fate, and to him almost all the artist's compositions were dedicated. Hence such a wealth of portraits, of which he left hundreds, as well as dozens of self-portraits and cryptoportraits, which are specific psychological studies. Malczewski portrayed almost the entire Krakow intellectual parnassus: writers, journalists, actors, collectors, artists, as well as many official personalities, doctors, friends. Of course, he also painted portraits on commission, but by far the greatest artistic and psychological value are the images of people with whom he was friends." (S. Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska, Jacek Malczewski. Life and works. [n.m.] 2015, p. 55.)

One of Malczewski's favorite models was the Krakow painter and picture restorer Stanislaw Bryniarski (1829 Krakow - 1914 there). He owed the beginning of his artistic education to Teodor Stachowicz, whose student he was and whose paintings he copied. In the period 1847-1854, and later in 1856-1857, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow under W. K. Stattler, A. Płonczyński, W. Łuszczkiewicz and H. Kossowski. In his painting work, he primarily depicted the architecture of Krakow. He was also involved in copying paintings, which he "corrected" on occasion. "This little-known painter was made famous primarily by the conterfects of Malczewski's brush, who was fascinated by the extremely expressive face of the aged artist, a face with distinctive features, surrounded by picturesquely flowing hair. Several of his conterfects are known, the most famous one being "Unknown Note" from 1902 (MNK), in which Malczewski depicted his model in the company of playing fauns, against a background composed of fanciful plants. The same year saw a work showing Bryniarski's face taken in profile and an accompanying woman serving some sort of drink (MNK). Bryniarski's portrait is also known from his 1907 triptych "Grasshopper" (priv.). In addition to these symbolic compositions, there are other Bryniarski conterfects in Malczewski's oeuvre, which appear to be sketches painted during joint meetings. The work presented for review is part of this series. The artist builds the composition with quick, vertical brushstrokes, focusing his attention primarily on the face - the most important and interesting part of the composition. He models it more precisely, marking deep wrinkles, characteristic mustache and disheveled hair. (Excerpt from the expert opinion of Mrs. Dr. Stefania Krzysztofowicz-Kozakowska, published in Krakow on June 9, 2017)