Le Bretons, charcoal on paper, inscribed and signed ‘Eug. Zak/ 07’ (lower left), 65 x 31cm (25 9/16 x 12 3/16in).

Trzy prawdziwe rysunki Eugeniusz Zaka, w dodatku sprzedawane jako jeden ‘lot’, to rzecz mało spotykana. Niska wycena dopełnia tę atrakcyjność (proszę jednak nie liczyć, że te prace dadzą się kupić za cenę podaną w widełkach). Kolekcjonerzy niech się nie obawiają handlarzy, którzy odpadną gdy dostrzegą determinację zakupu do kolekcji.

Les Bretons, charcoal on paper, signed ‘Eug. Zak/ 07’ (lower left), 65 x 31cm (25 9/16 x 12 3/16in).

Femme Bretonne, charcoal on paper, inscribed and signed ‘Eug. Zak/ 9. 1. 1907’ (lower right)
65 x 31cm (25 9/16 x 12 3/16in).

Lot 70. Eugène Zak (Polish, 1884-1926). Le Bretons (2) – Femme Breton. In 1900, at the age of 16, Eugène Zak arrived in Paris where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme, and then at Académie Colarossi in the studio of Albert Besnard. In 1903, he travelled to Italy and later that same year moved to Munich to attend the Royal Academy School of Fine Arts. He did not stay long in Germany and returned to Paris in 1904. There, he participated in the creation of the group Rytm (Rythm), formed by artists of the Polish avant-garde and exhibited his work for the first time at the Salon d’Automne. In 1913, he married Yadwiga Kohn with whom he later had his son Yannek. In 1914, Zak travelled to Vence and Nice in the South of France and two years later left for Poland and stayed in Warsaw. In 1921, he travelled to Germany and was tasked to decorate the house of the Dutch architect Frans Arnold Breuhaus. In 1922, he finally returned to Paris. On January 15, 1926, he died suddenly of a heart attack. A retrospective of his work took place at the Salon des Indépendants in 1926. Following Eugène Zak’s death, his wife Mrs. Jadwiga Zak, ran the Zak gallery in rue de l’Abbaye in Paris until the Second World War. Mrs. Zak and her son Jacques were deported and assassinated in Auschwitz.
Le Bretons and Femme Bretonne are works related to an exhibition which took place at the Breton Departmental Museum of Quimper in 2004. The exhibition presented a collection of works by Polish artists who had stayed and painted in Brittany between 1890 to 1939, and among them: Eugène Zak. Estimate 900 – 1,200 GBP. Bonhams. 03/03/21. Sold for £ 12,750 (US$ 17,789) inc. premium