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Description

Eugeniusz Zak (1884-1926)

Head of a woman, circa 1925. Oil on paper pasted on dicta, 74 x 59 cm (frame) / 54.4 x 39.2 cm (in light passe partout). Paper slightly peeled / damaged at edges in some places. Comes from the collection of Lucie and Clément Pech*. * Eugene Zak, Head of a Woman (study), 1924 Oil on paper on dicot, 55 x 40 cm Clément Pech, born June 28, 1882, was a French military officer and entrepreneur. He began his career in the army in 1902 and served until 1928. He was stationed in Czestochowa from 1918 to 1923, as part of a settlement between the newly formed Polish government and its French counterpart. Under it, French officers assisted in the establishment of Polish military structures, in return for which they received promotions. Clément Pech, then in the rank of lieutenant, was stationed in Częstochowa. He even received the Cross of Valor from the Polish government (a photo of the ID card entitling him to wear the decoration is in the documentation accompanying the painting). In Czestochowa he met Lucia (later in France she used a Frenchized version of the name "Lucie") Henig, who came from a well-to-do Jewish family. The couple married and in 1923. Lucie and Clément moved to France and settled in Saint-Mandé, a wealthy sub-Paris town. Back in France, Lucie and Clément became friends with many artists. Clément was an artist himself and exhibited his work many times at the Paris Salons. Lucie, on the other hand, was not only characterized by great artistic sensitivity, but her knowledge of Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and even Lithuanian was also a great asset. As a result, she easily established contacts with many École de Paris artists who came from Eastern Europe and often spoke French poorly. So Lucie helped them with administrative matters, translated documents and correspondence, and returned small favors, among other things. According to a story told by Frédéric Pech (grandson of Lucie and Clément), his father André (the couple's son) often recalled that his mother visited Montparnassie regularly, especially at the famous Le Dome restaurant, where the cream of international artists active in Paris at the time gathered. One of the artists who was among Lucie's circle of acquaintances and friends was Eugene Zak (1). In the summer of 1924, Madame Pech, who happened to be in Poland at the time, agreed to help the artist bring his nephew on vacation and later drive him back to Poland so that he could make it in time for the school year (2). It was then, as a token of gratitude, that Zak gave her a study for a painting he was working on at the time. The work has remained in the Pech family until the present day: for many years it hung in the study of André, the son of Lucie and Clément. André Pech was an engineer who worked for many years for Clarel, a fiberboard company, as insulation for public lighting prototype projects. According to the memoirs of André's son, Frédéric, "Around 1960-61, my father decided to frame the painting, so he glued this oil on paper onto fiberboard, specially cut to size at the factory. He constructed the frame himself. I was a "do-it-yourself teenager" at the time, and I recall holding the pressure box (made of wood) while my father cut the strip with a handsaw. (...) Later, he painted the frame at the factory, placed the artwork in it, and to finish the frame, he used "Clarel adhesive paper" still present on the back of the work today. Since then, I have always seen this oil on paper, framed, hanging on the wall of his room, above his bed" (3). After his death in 1962, the work was inherited by his son Frédéric, grandson Lucie and Clément. After the painting was donated to the Roi Doré Gallery and then ArtKrak Auction House, the frame was removed (to check the exact size, condition of the work and for aesthetic reasons). Head of a Woman depicts a portrait of an anonymous woman, shot from a semi-profile (while the visible part of her torso appears to be positioned almost en face, her head is tilted in a gesture characteristic of Zak's figure). The final version of the work - an oil on canvas measuring 45 x 37.5 cm - is in the National Museum in Wroclaw. The two works are slightly differently framed: in the painting on canvas, the figure is more centrally positioned, cropped at the bottom (part of the handkerchief around the woman's neck is invisible), and the tip of her hat is close to the top edge of the canvas. The painting is also signed. The study under review, on the other hand, is an oil on paper, in which the depicted figure is shifted slightly to the left, the handkerchief around her neck is almost entirely visible, and the gap between the hat and the upper edge of the painting is slightly larger. The figure itself is slightly stronger, but the larger space around it compensates for this impression

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Eugeniusz Zak (1884-1926)

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Estimate 70 - 120 EUR
Starting price  60 EUR

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krakow, Poland
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+48124195061
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