Bolesław Cybis (1895, Massandra Estate, Crimea – 1957, Trenton, New Jersey, USA), "Porters" ("Dockworkers"), ca. 1920–23

Provenance
collection of the artist’s heirs
private collection, Poland

Exhibited
In the Circle of the Pruszków Artists: Bolesław Cybis and Friends, DESA Unicum, August 5–22, 2024
Warsaw–Moscow 1900–2000, Zachęta National Art Gallery in Warsaw, November 2004–January 2005; State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, March–June 2005
Bolesław Cybis 1895–1957. Painting, Drawing, Sculpture. Works from the 1920s and 1930s, National Museum in Warsaw, September 20–November 3, 2002
Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Bolesław Cybis, Regional Museum in Toruń, Kamienica pod Gwiazdą, May 6, 1984 – May 15, 1985
Exhibition of Contemporary Polish Art (Russian: Wystawka sovremennogo polskogo iskusstva), Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, 1933

Bibliography
In the Circle of the Pruszków Artists: Bolesław Cybis and Friends, ed. Michał Szarek, Warsaw 2024, pp. 123–7, cat. no. 37 (ill.), illustrated on the cover
Warsaw–Moscow 1900–2000, exhibition catalog, Zachęta National Art Gallery in Warsaw, State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, scientific editors Maria Poprzęcka and Lidia Jowlewa, Warsaw 2004, p. 228 (ill.)
Bolesław Cybis 1895–1957. Painting, Drawing, Sculpture. Works from the 1920s and 1930s, exhibition catalog, compiled by Anna Prugar-Myślik, National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 2002, p. 104 (ill.), cat. no. I/45
Archival photograph of the 1984–85 exhibition showing the painting, photo by Z. Siewak, archives of the Regional Museum in Toruń
Exhibition of Contemporary Polish Art, exhibition catalog, Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Moscow 1933, item 20

Biography
He was born into a wealthy family on the Massandra estate in Crimea. During his early childhood and youth, he frequently moved with his parents. He lived in Grodno and Yalta, and attended the Real School in Vilnius. From 1911, he lived in Saint Petersburg. A year later, the family moved to Kharkiv, where the first significant period in the future artist’s life began. Until 1915, he attended Professor Burakov’s Real School. He then studied at the Kharkiv School of Fine Arts until 1918. Even then, he was strongly inspired by the achievements of the Russian avant-garde. In addition to painting, he focused mainly on sculpture and set design for local theaters. In 1917, he joined a group promoting the ideas of Cubo-Futurism known as the “Union of Seven.”
The consolidation of Soviet power and its expansion forced the young Cybis to flee. On September 6, 1919, he fled Kharkiv and, via Feodosia, reached Istanbul. This marked the beginning of the next phase of his career. In what was once Constantinople, he established close ties with other Russian immigrants associated with avant-garde movements. He lived in poverty and struggled to make ends meet. He earned his living primarily by painting signs for cafés and theaters. He also made ceramic pipes. His earliest known drawings date from this period. Due to a shortage of materials, Cybis often used both sides of the paper. He painted mainly nudes and anatomical studies, as well as scenes from the city’s underworld—views from brothels and seedy bars.
From July 20, 1923, the artist is recorded as living in Warsaw. Initially, he lived on Trzech Krzyży Square. At that time, he worked at the ceramics workshop of Andrzej Wojnacki and Kazimierz Czechowski on Czerniakowska Street, most likely creating painted decorations. Starting in September, he attended lectures as an auditor at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. He studied painting in Tadeusz Pruszkowski’s studio and printmaking under Władysław Skoczylas. In 1924, he participated for the first time in an open-air painting workshop in Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula River. The year 1925 proved to be a turning point in Cybis’s personal and professional life. He married Maria Tym. The young couple settled in a span of the Poniatowski Bridge, where the painter’s father worked. Thanks to a scholarship, Cybis traveled to Paris, where he visited the World Exhibition of Decorative Arts. He took part in another plein air painting session in Kazimierz Dolny, and upon his return, together with other colleagues and under the leadership of the artistic guru Pruszkowski, he founded the “Brotherhood of Saint Luke”—one of the most important art groups in interwar Poland. In the winter of 1925–1926, he stayed at the Soboty estate with his friend Jan Stokowski. He drew strong inspiration from the folklore of the Łowicz region, which is reflected in his compositions depicting peasants and women from Łowicz in colorful folk costumes. In 1927, he began construction of the “Placówka” in Młociny, which was to house not only his home but also a studio serving as a gathering place for other artists. As early as the mid-1920s, he began to draw inspiration from the German Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement. Under its influence, he created compositions with a dreamlike quality—figures of mannequins or landscapes with withered trees. In 1928, Cybis painted “The Woman Combing Her Hair.”
In 1930, together with his wife and a friend, Jan Zamoyski—also a painter—he set out on a long journey. The route of this journey led through Vienna and mainland Italy all the way to Sicily. It ended in North Africa, where the travelers visited Tunis and Tripoli. During the expedition, he produced many sketches and drawings. Upon his return to Warsaw, he produced an entire series of oil paintings. The artist then began experimenting with texture, introducing three-dimensional elements into his compositions. In 1936, he created the iconic “Primavera.” In the 1930s, the artist increasingly turned to monumental painting. In 1939, he traveled to the United States to decorate the Polish Pavilion being prepared for the World’s Fair. The outbreak of World War II stranded the couple overseas. Cybis and his wife remained in the United States permanently. In 1942, in Trenton, New Jersey, they opened the Cordey China Inc. factory and the experimental Cybis Porcelain Art studio attached to it, where they worked with ceramics. This venture brought the Cybis family considerable income and fame. The factory itself, however, continued to operate long after the couple’s death.