Maria Melania Mutermilch `Mela Muter (1876 Warsaw - 1967 Paris), Portrait of a seated woman

Origins
artist's legacy
Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne
private collection, Europe

Biography
She was educated at the School of Drawing and Painting for Women in Warsaw. In 1901 she settled permanently in Paris. She continued her artistic studies at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Académie Colarossi. From 1902, she participated in the Paris Salons. She was closely associated with the Polish art and literary colony active in Paris; she participated in exhibitions of Polish art at the Society of Polish Artists (1914) and Galerie du Musée Crillon (1922). She traveled to Spain in 1911-14, and visited Switzerland in 1915 and 1919. She spent many months in Brittany and the southern regions of France. Mela Muter developed her own original style growing out of the Post-Impressionist tradition. From van Gogh's paintings she took over the expressive contour circling forms brought out by quick, multi-directional brushstrokes. She painted charming landscapes and city views, genre scenes and portraits.