Boleslas Biegas
1877 – 1954

Boleslas Biegas was born in 1877, the son of an orchestra leader. After the death of his parents in 1890 he worked as a carpenter’s assistant, a messenger, and then became an apprentice at the studio of Panusiak, a sculptor.

Biegas studied and worked with Panusiak for eighteen months. The experience gave birth to the artistic consciousness in Biegas and in 1896 he exhibited a group of sculptures in a bookstore in Warsaw. His talent was evident and in the same year he entered the Academy of Fine Arts of Cracow. In the following years, and for twenty years afterwards, he exhibited his works at the Society for the Advancement of Fine Arts of Cracow. In 1901 he obtained a scholarship to continue his studies in Paris. He moved to Montparnasse and in 1902 he exhibited at the “Salon National des Beaux-Arts.” The same year in Cracow he published his first dramatic comedy, Le Passe et l’Avenir.

In 1902 Biegas gave birth to circular forms in painting. Known as the Cycle des Tableaux Sphériques, Biegas painted in this style into the early 1920s. His works of this style strongly impressed Robert Delaunay, whose paintings show the influence of Biegas’ innovations. It is interesting to note that this was a full five years before Picasso invented what was called Cubism. Many of the Italian Futurists later utilized the technique of circular forms in their works, it then became known as Orphism.

Also in 1902 his sculptures were published in Éditions de la Plume in Paris, an important art publication of the period. In 1903 he exhibited in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In the following year he published a philosophical essay in Cracow, Poland, under the title “Peregrination de la Pensée.” In 1905 he returned to exhibit his most recent works in painting and sculpture in Warsaw, and he published a drama, Graczek, which included a large number of his illustrations. Then in 1906 he published two new dramas, Le Chein de Berger and Lechit, after which he returned to Paris to participate in the Salon des Indépendants. Louis Theuveny published an album with articles by some of the most important writers of the time and dedicated it to Biegas.

In 1907 there occurred the first showing of Cycle de la Mystique d’Infini, sometimes known as Chateaux Mystérieux and Tableaux Bleus. Biegas painted in this style in 1909, 1927, 1937 and 1943. He painted in different styles in the years in between. There seems to be clearly three or four very different styles that appear in his career; there are spherical forms, symbolist chateaus, symbolist creatures, and portraits.

He wrote a new book in 1908 titled Orfida and painted a group of works called Cycle des Tableaux Divers. In 1909 he had a new exposition at Kulikowski’s studio in Warsaw where he presented sculptures and paintings and published Bramir, a book of dramas. In 1910 he returned to Paris at the Salon d’Automne, and in the following year he traveled to Rome and to Amsterdam for their international expositions of art. He also exhibited his original works in his own studio on the Rue de Bagneux in Paris. He undertook his Cycle de Vampires de Guerre in 1913 to be exhibited at the Palace of Count Potocki on the Avenue de Freidland, which today is the Chamber of Commerce of Paris. His Cycle des Portraits d’Homme Illustres, also known as “Portraits Bleus,” was done in 1919, the year that he again exhibited at the “Salon d’Automne.”

From 1920 to 1923 he returned to the “Salon des Indépendants,” and in 1925 he exhibited at the Galerie Andre Seligmann where there was a catalogue published with a preface by the art critic Gustave Kahn. He exhibited at the Salon d’Automne for the next ten years. He stopped sculpting in 1927 to start a new cycle, La Mystique d’Infini, and exhibited at Galerie Bernheim Jeune in 1929. There was a group exhibition, “Polish Art and Artists,” on the Avenue Montaigne in which he took part in 1931. In 1937 he edited the drama Saturne in Varsovie, and during the 1940’s he painted his Cycle de Portraits et de Nations.

Biegas died in 1954 and left all of his works to the Polish Library of Paris. One of his sculptures is in the Musée d’Orsay. Biegas the writer, painter, and sculptor enjoyed a long and successful career. He carried his different styles and techniques with him throughout the years. It is interesting to note the dates of his works, and that he never left behind a style that worked for him.