Portret Adolphe Baslera

A native of Kraków, Adolphe Basler played a prominent role in the Montparnasse artistic network that was mainly made up of artists from Eastern Europe. An art dealer, historian, critic and collector, he was among the central figures in the Parisian art scene in the early 20th-century, a fact evidenced by his numerous portraits by such artists as Amadeo Modigliani or Moïse Kisling. Leopold Gottlieb was another painter to have immortalised Basler’s characteristic stocky frame, also depicted in photographs, round face and black moustache; the painting was exhibited at the 1913 Salon d'Automne in Paris.

An interesting dialogue takes place between Basler’s portrait produced by Gottlieb and that by Roman Kramsztyk, created one year before. Both paintings show the man seated in an armchair, relaxed: his left hand is low (resting on the lap in Kramsztyk’s piece, and on the armrest in Gottlieb’s picture), while the right one is turned upwards, delicately holding the lapel of his jacket. It might be that both artists captured the art dealer in his favourite pose, but mutual inspiration is equally likely.

With its light pastel palette dominated by Basler’s grey blue jacket and the contrast between elements of the background – green turquoise fabric with streaks of pale reds – Gottlieb’s work indisputably conveys, unlike Kramsztyk’s painting limited to a narrow colour range of burgundy armchair and fuscous jacket, an impression of lightness. As depicted by Gottlieb, Basler appears to be a refined and relaxed individual, while the expression of his face, usually having sharp features, is mild, a combination of concentration with inner calm. This portrait demonstrates the artist’s mastery of colour and ability to work a multitude of shades into almost monochromatic planes in a picture. Importantly, the painting also testifies to the intersecting of the pathways followed by various artists and cultural figures, many of which ran from Kraków only to cross again in Paris.

Małgorzata Stolarska-Fronia