Stanisław Lentz


Stanislaw Lentz was a Polish painter, portraitist, illustrator, as well as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 1909.

Biography

Stanisław Lentz studied at the Krakow School of Fine Arts with Feliks Szynalewski and Izydor Jabłoński 1877-1879, then continued his studies in Wojciech Gerson's drawing class in Warsaw. In 1880-1884 he studied abroad at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Alexander von Wagner and Gyula Benczúr, and in 1884-1887 at the Académie Julian in Paris.
After returning to Warsaw he teamed up with magazines. His illustrations were published by:
In 1888 he became a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts Zachęta. In 1910 he joined the Society of Polish Artists Sztuka. He traveled frequently abroad: in 1896 he visited Berlin, Paris and Madrid, in 1897 he visited Paris, in 1900 Normandy, in the years 1903 to 1914 he and his wife spent summers in Scheveningen in the Netherlands.
In 1909 Lentz was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, while being also the director of this academy. In 1915 he was entrusted with this position for life.
He was buried in Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

Exhibitions

His work have been exhibited at numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Individual artwork exhibitions:
In 1894 he was awarded a silver medal at the exhibition of contemporary art in Lviv for Portret Adolfa Święcickiego. At the Exposition Universelle in 1900 he won the award for the aesthetic qualities of Portret Mieczysława Frenkla. The painting Vierzehntak Wypłata robotnikom won third prize in the TZSP painting competition in 1895. Za Wilki morskie z Scheveningen he was awarded the second prize in 1904 in the TZSP artwork painting competition.

Style

In the beginning he was under the influence of the Munich school which he had studied at, when in 1890 he began being influenced by the new colour trend. As a cartoonist he showed daily episodes from the life of the people of Warsaw. Many of his painting scenes displayed Jewish themes, like those in his artworks Przekupień żydowski and Żydzi handlujący starzyzną. Under the influence of the revolutionary events in the Kingdom of Poland in 1905, he was fascinated with the labour movement which became the key subject in his artwork. He was valued for his portraits created in the period 1900-1915, characterized by blunt characteristics of the model, a synthetic form of the dark monochromatic colours and broad brushstrokes. In 1915 there was a period of fascination with Dutch painting, particularly the work of Frans Hals. In the last period of his creativity he had also undertook artworks memorizing the effort of the soldiers of the Polish Legions in World War I fighting for the country's independence..