Who painted Self-portrait?

Self-portrait was painted by Blanka Mercère in 1937.

Where can I see Self-portrait?

Self-portrait is held by National Museum in Warsaw.

What movement is Self-portrait?

Self-portrait is associated with Art Informel.

Can I buy a print of Self-portrait?

Museum-quality prints of Self-portrait are available made-to-order from Artifact World Gallery.

Self-portrait by Blanka Mercère (1937)

About this work

Overview

It serves as a significant document of a female artist asserting her professional identity within the Polish art world of the early twentieth century.

Self-portrait is a 1937 oil on canvas painting by the Polish artist Blanka Mercère. Measuring 124.5 by 87.5 centimeters, the work is a vertical, frontal composition in which the artist depicts herself holding the tools of her profession. Created in the final year of her life, the painting is held in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw. It serves as a significant document of a female artist asserting her professional identity within the Polish art world of the early twentieth century.

Subject & Meaning

The painting depicts Blanka Mercère seated slightly off center, facing the viewer directly. She holds two paintbrushes in her left hand and rests a wooden painter's palette with dabs of paint in her lap, while her right hand rests on her thigh. She wears a dark coat over a light blouse with a dark bow at the neck, a fur stole draped over her left shoulder, and rings on both hands. To her left, a window reveals bare winter branches, while to her right, a dark background features a wooden table edge and the edge of an easel. The inclusion of the palette, brushes, and easel firmly establishes the work as an assertion of her identity as a professional painter, while the winter landscape outside the window may suggest a reflective or concluding phase of life.

Technique & Style

Mercère executed the work in oil paint on canvas, achieving a matte to satin finish. The brushwork varies across the composition: it is smooth and blended in the rendering of the face and hands, and becomes looser in the treatment of the clothing and background. The palette is muted, dominated by browns, grays, and blacks, with touches of white and soft blue. Light enters from the left, illuminating the artist's face and the window area, while the right side of the composition falls into shadow. The surface of the canvas exhibits fine craquelure throughout.

History & Provenance

Blanka Mercère painted the self-portrait in 1937, the year of her death on December 16 in Warsaw. The documented provenance and ownership chain of the canvas prior to its institutional acquisition are not detailed in the available records. The work is currently held by the National Museum in Warsaw, where it remains as part of the museum's collection of Polish art. Specific exhibition history for this painting is not recorded in the provided sources.

Context

Blanka Mercère was a Polish painter born in Warsaw on December 17, 1883. She received a comprehensive artistic education, studying at the Institute of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Nymphenburg near Munich, where she also visited the studio of Józef Brandt. After returning to Warsaw, she attended the Warsaw Drawing School, followed by the Higher Courses for Women named after Adrian Baraniecki in Kraków. In 1908, she traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts. During World War I, she worked in the civil service and at a Polish military camp in Sillé-le-Guillaume. Following her return to Poland, she was appointed a professor at the School of Fine Arts, where she led a painting and composition studio, and from 1926 she ran her own art school in Warsaw. While she painted portraits, genre compositions, religious subjects, and landscapes, particularly of southern France, this self-portrait stands as a formal declaration of her status within the institutional art establishment.