Bolesław Biegas (1877–1954) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

painter and sculptor.

Biography

Biegas was born in

Koziczyn Koziczyn is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Regimin, within Ciechanów County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Regimin, north of Ciechanów, and north of Warsaw. References

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and orphaned at a young age. He began studying sculpture in Warsaw in the studio of a local sculptor, Antoni Panasiuk, then studied art under

Konstanty Laszczka Konstanty Laszczka (born 3 September 1865 in Makowiec Duży; died 23 March 1956 in Kraków) was a Polish sculptor, painter, graphic artist, as well as professor and rector (academia), rector of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Las ...

at the

Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public higher education, institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Polish fine art academy, established in 1 ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. After being expelled for his sculpture ''The Book of Life'',Bolesław Biegas
ejmangallery.com Biegas moved permanently to Paris, where he briefly attended the ''École des Beaux-Arts'' before beginning his independent artistic activity. From 1900, his works were exhibited in several Salons, including the parisian Galerie des Artistes Modernes and Galerie Arts et Artistes Anglais, and galleries in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. Biegas also created a series of

style paintings, featuring mythical, monstrous and female chimeras, which symbolised a violent battle of the sexes. Biegas established a small museum for his art in 1950, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, called the Musée Boleslas Biegas. It is located within the

Polish Library in Paris The Polish Library in Paris (, ) is a Polish cultural centre of national importance and is closely associated both with the historic Great Emigration of the Polish élite to Paris in the 19th-century and the formation in 1832 of the Literary Soci ...

in the

4th arrondissement of Paris The 4th arrondissement of Paris (''IVe arrondissement'') is one of the twenty Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''quatrième''. Along with the 1 ...

at 6, Quai d'Orléans. The museum contains his own paintings and sculpture, as well as other Polish artists active from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, including

Olga Boznańska Olga Boznańska (15 April 1865 – 26 October 1940) was a Polish painter of the turn of the 20th century. She was a notable painter in Poland and Europe, and was stylistically associated with the French impressionism, though she rejected this lab ...

and Tadeusz Makowski. The museum occupies one room in the Polish Library in Paris, which also houses the

Musée Adam Mickiewicz The Adam Mickiewicz Museum (in French: Musée Adam Mickiewicz) is a small museum dedicated to Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855). It is located within the Polish Library in Paris in the 4th arrondissement of Paris at 6, Quai d'Orleans, ...

and the

Salon Frédéric Chopin The Salon Frédéric Chopin () is a small museum dedicated to Frédéric Chopin. It is located within the Polish Library in Paris—Bibliothèque polonaise de Paris—in the 4th arrondissement of Paris at 6, Quai d'Orléans, Paris, France. Guided ...

. Guided visits are available Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings by prior appointment; an admission fee is charged.

References

External links

Boleslaw Biegas www.biegas.pl
*
Bibliothèque Polonaise de Paris

Biography

See also

References

External links

Further reading