Ewa Juszkiewicz gazes on the 1804 portrait of Polish nobleman and socialite Katarzyna Starzenska.
“She had many amorous affairs,” Ms. Yushkevich mentioned. “She was partying loads. She was principally an influencer.”
“Different ladies needed to decorate like her,” she mentioned.
small portray by François GerardDisplaying Starzenska in a black gown and pink scarf, on show at Warsaw Royal CitadelThis museum was as soon as the residence of Polish monarchs.
“I feel her black gown was velvet,” Ms. Yushkevich mentioned. “Crimson scarf – perhaps cashmere? Cashmere was already very talked-about at the moment.”
Ms. Yushkevich, a 39-year-old surrealist painter, got here to the museum one morning in late September to admire Starzanska’s portrait once more. Ms. Yushkevich researched Starzanska’s life earlier than portray her personal model of the portrait. .
Ms. Juszkiewicz’s model is sort of 10 toes tall, a lot bigger than the unique. In it, Starzanska’s head is totally wrapped in white, black and pink material, with a leaf protruding from the highest.
The work “Within the cool valley, close to the working water” (later François Gerard)” is one among 9 new oil work created by Ms. Juszkiewicz in 2017 Solo exhibition Opening on November third on the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, California. Most of them are recreations of particular work of girls from the 18th and nineteenth centuries.
Whereas Ms. Yushkevich faithfully recreated many facets of the previous portray, together with the figures’ garments, she blurred the faces of the ladies within the portraits. Some look like wrapped in material, whereas others are lined in vegetation or dreamy hairstyles impressed by the flowery hairstyles and wigs worn within the period when her supply materials was first created.
Ms. Yushkevich’s work on show at Gagosian are a part of a sequence of portraits she created. Some, resembling “ginger locks” (2021), exhibits a lady sporting a teal gown, Reduce the mess with a pointy knife The massive quantity of copper-colored hair overlaying her face is just not primarily based on a particular portray.
in October, Louis Vuitton begins promoting $10,500 bag Stamped “Ginger Locks”. The unique portray was bought by the Institute of Modern Artwork in Miami. (Louis Vuitton declined to supply the phrases of its contract with Ms. Juszkiewicz for the bag.)
Ms Yushkevich mentioned her method was to bolster what she known as the “absurdity” of feminine portraiture of the interval, significantly the way in which feminine topics have been typically depicted with related options, resembling well mannered eyes and pink cheeks , porcelain complexion and ideal tiara.
Ms. Yushkevich describes these options as a “masks” that brings consistency relatively than character to the interval portraits. By overlaying her topics’ heads with textiles and hair (generally with fungi, fruit or bugs), she requested the viewer to see the ladies as people, not simply fairly faces, she mentioned.
Derek Blasberg, 41, govt editor of Gagosian Quarterly, {a magazine} revealed by the gallery, mentioned Ms. Yushkevich’s work have been “stylistically saturated.”Their homeowners embrace Giancarlo GiammettiFounding father of Valentino.
Mr. Blasberg, a daily at trend occasions, in contrast her portrait to different stylized historic reinterpretations, resembling these in Sofia Coppola’s movie “Marie Antoinette” and the Netflix sequence “bridgeton”.
“They’re each celebrating and criticizing that period, particularly that second in trend,” he mentioned of Ms. Yushkevich’s work and “Bridgerton.”
Ms. Juszkiewicz mentioned her job requires her to check trend throughout time intervals. Typically she incorporates modern clothes and niknaks into her work, resembling a pair of gold-toned hoop earrings she purchased second-hand.
In her studio in Warsaw, she works with reference supplies together with a 100-year-old “Historical past of French Ladies’s Clothes: Medieval Vogue,” a catalog from the Brooklyn Museum. 2014 exhibition Killer Heels: The Artwork of Excessive Heels and books about Frida Kahlo, Annie Leibovitz and Cindy Sherman.
Ms. Juszkiewicz additionally research working tracks. “I take note of particulars,” she mentioned. “Material, texture, silhouette.” A pink skirt Lately, items from Simone Rocha’s Spring 2024 assortment, embellished with flowing pink ribbons, caught her eye. Inverted tulle robe From the Viktor & Rolf January trend present.
She additionally cited designers Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen and Rei Kawakubo as sources of inspiration, all of whom Juszkiewicz mentioned had a knack for “deconstructing classics.”
Ms. Kawakubo famous that the 2 clothes she designed for her latest Comme des Garçons assortment have been created from materials printed with interval iconography of girls and ladies, together with “Portrait of a lady in blue gown“, a portray by Dutch artist Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck. This work is a 2013 portray by Ms. Juszkiewicz”lady in blue,” through which she hides the younger feminine topic’s face behind a tuft of grey mushroom.
Ms. Yushkevich mentioned that as a younger lady, she was certain she would turn into a painter. Born in Gdansk, Poland, a metropolis about 4 hours’ drive from Warsaw, she holds a grasp’s diploma in portray from the Academy of Wonderful Arts in Gdansk and a Ph.D.in portray from Jan Matejko Academy of Wonderful Arts, Krakow.
Throughout her Ph.D., she turned fascinated with careers Elizabeth Louise Vige Le Bruna French portrait painter of the 1700s and 1800s, Marie Antoinette’s official court docket painter.
As a feminine artist in a discipline dominated by males on the time, Vigée Le Brun was removed from the norm, Ms. Juszkiewicz mentioned, including that her portraits featured ladies by way of facial expressions in addition to clothes and Equipment reveal your topic’s character. .
Vigée Le Brun’s self-portrait, displaying the artist holding a brush and a palette dotted with paint, offered the inspiration for the primary portrait in a sequence of work that Ms. Juszkiewicz created in 2012 primarily based on earlier works.
The portray “Straw Hat” (named after Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun) depicts Vigée Le Brun’s face changed by two sections of hair separated by a scar-like part.Final yr it was offered at public sale About 1 million US {dollars}. (Gagosian Gallery doesn’t present costs for present exhibitions.)
“I knew I had began one thing,” mentioned Ms. Juszkiewicz, who has since created about 70 work for the sequence.
Writer Regan Penaluna used one among her items on the quilt of her latest guide, “Tips on how to assume like a lady,” about feminine philosophers. The portrait “Untitled (named after Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun)” depicts a lady along with her head wrapped in wealthy material. She wears a white jumpsuit Sporting a gown with a blue bow tied round her waist, she sat on an opulent couch with an open guide in her hand.
Ms. Penaluna mentioned she selected the portray partially as a result of she thought among the philosophers talked about in her guide would respect what she known as the “huge thriller” inherent in Ms. Yushkevich’s portrait.
She describes the thriller this fashion: “What’s girl when she not seems to us as an object of magnificence?”
