Eugeniusz Zak (Polish, 1884-1926)
A Young Man in Profile
signed 'Eug. Zak' (upper right)
oil on canvas mounted on paperboard
53.0 x 37.0 cm (20 7/8 x 14 9/16 in).
framed 41.0 x 57.0 x 3.0 cm (16 1/8 x 22 3/8 x 1 1/5 in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
Vladimir Raykis, Galerie Zak, Paris.
Alfred Tarski, Berkeley, California (acquired from the previous September 17, 1958).
Estate of Eva Kristina Ehrenfeucht (by family descent from the previous).

N.B.
Born in Belarus to Polish-Jewish parents, Eugeniusz Zak studied art in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme and at the Académie Colarossi with Albert Besnard. He worked on idyllic landscapes and Arcadian scenes populated by shepherds and fishermen during this time. With the outbreak of World War I, Zak moved to Poland. During the following period he painted several works depicting the same sitter in the same position. One of these is the well-known Young Acrobat, 1919 (sold at Skinner Boston in 2017 and previously exhibited at Towarzystwo Zachety Sztuk Pieknych, Warsaw), which bears many similarities to the present painting. These paintings all depict a solemn figure in a sparse interior setting and recall Pablo Picasso's Rose and Blue Period paintings, as well as the elongated figures of Amedeo Modigliani's works.

Often associated with the group of early twentieth-century artists known as the École de Paris, Zak was sure to have been familiar with the works of Picasso and Modigliani. Zak's stylized and graceful figures also bear the influence of his interest in Renaissance artists like Sandro Botticelli. Returning to Paris in 1923, Zak's works maintained the nostalgic and melancholic tone he had adopted during the war.

Along with his wife, Maria, Jewish-American logician and mathematician Alfred Tarski was an avid collector of Polish art and amassed an impressive collection of works from some of Poland's most influential artists. Like many artists in their collection, Mr. Tarski was born in Warsaw, Poland to Jewish parents in 1901. Mr. Tarski was educated in Poland at the University of Warsaw and became a member of the Lwów–Warsaw School, one of the most important schools of Polish logic and philosophy, and of the Warsaw School of Mathematics. In 1929 he married Maria Witkowska and they began collecting art. Maria worked as a courier for the army in the Polish–Soviet War. They had two children together, and in 1939 the family immigrated to the United States where Mr. Tarski taught and carried out research in mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley until his death in 1983.

Scattered losses primarily near the edges, but also including the figure's hir and shirt. Some of these have been retouched. There are also other areas of retouch scattered throughout the composition, especially near the edges and to the background of the composition. The work would benefit from cleaning.