Private collector · Warsaw

Works by Bolesław Biegas wanted

I am looking for sculpture, paintings and drawings by Bolesław Biegas (1877–1954). I buy directly from private owners. Correspondence in English or Polish is equally welcome.

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What I am looking for

Sculpture

Symbolist sculpture and portraits: plaster, bronze, marble. All periods.

Paintings

Symbolist and visionary painting, the "Vampires of War" and "Spherism" cycles, religious compositions.

Drawings

Works on paper: sketches, studies, ink drawings.

Any condition

Including works in need of conservation.

The name appears in several forms: Bolesław Biegas, Boleslaw Biegas (without the Polish letter), Boleslas Biegas (French), and his birth name Biegalski.

Bolesław Biegas

1877–1954

Born Bolesław Biegalski on 29 March 1877 in Koziczyn near Ciechanów, into a poor peasant family. He was apprenticed to a woodcarver in Warsaw. In 1896 his carvings caught the attention of a Ciechanów doctor, Franciszek Rajkowski, and a collection launched by Aleksander Świętochowski allowed him to begin studying that autumn at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts under Konstanty Laszczka.

Around 1901, on a scholarship from the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, he went to Paris, where he won renown for his Symbolist sculpture and portrait busts, among them one of Olga Boznańska. After the First World War he worked mainly as a painter; the "Vampires of War" cycle dates from 1914–1918. He also wrote plays.

After the Second World War he lived in poverty and obscurity. He died in Paris on 30 September 1954. His work has been rediscovered since the 1970s; there are permanent displays at the Mazovian Museum in Płock (since 2011) and in Warsaw (since 2015).

Bolesław Biegas in his studio in Kraków, around 1898–1899 — Bolesław Biegas in his studio, Kraków, c. 1898–1899. Photograph, photographer unknown, public domain (Polona).

The year of birth on labels. Biegas's gravestone in Montmorency gives the wrong year of birth, 1879, and that date is often repeated in the literature and on old labels. The correct year is 1877. The discrepancy says nothing against the authenticity of a work.

Direct purchase

I buy without intermediaries, so the margin stays with the owner.

Fair valuation

Based on market data. No undervaluing, no pressure.

Complete discretion

Your details and information about the work are protected. Enquiries are confidential.