The years of the fin de siècle led to the increased popularity of the female portrait. The method of presenting the model was dependent on moods, a certain emancipation, and freedom of women. Several models of woman became current in the art of the time; the ladylike woman, the matronly woman, and the vampire woman. One painter of beautiful women was Teodor Axentowicz, who believed that only women were worth painting. His creative output is dominated by salon portraits dedicated to beautiful, well-dressed, and well-off ladies. Each of these beauties dresses in stylish outfits, furs, and outlandish hats, graced with sophisticated jewellery. Axentowicz’s favorite model was believed to be Redhead, whose face appears on posters announcing subsequent exhibitions of the Society of Polish Artists (Sztuka), among others.
Who was this beautiful model? She is known to have been Ata (Ama) Zakrzewska. She and her sister Nata are mentioned in the essay Dogmatically by the Polish poet Tadeusz Boy Żeleński, who quotes a verse inscribed on the fan of one of the sisters: “Nata is lovely, lovely is Ama, but the loveliest of all is Mama.” The spoken counterpart of this verse was reworked in Kraków and ran, “Poor Ama, poor Natty, but the poorest of all is daddy.” The lovely Ama, to once again quote Boy Żeleński, was drawn by Axentowicz out of Anna Teresa Zakrzewska, who in 1903 married the Italian aristocrat from Sicily, Alessandro Tasca (1874–1943), who due to his socialist views was known as “the red prince”. He was also the uncle of the famed writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, author of The Leopard. Little more is known of Nata’s fate than Boy Żeleński’s mention of her marriage to a Russian prince.
We present today's pastel thanks to the National Museum in Krakow. :)
See you tomorrow!
P.S. Another famous redhead in art history was Elizabeth Siddal. Read about her portrait as Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti here!