Footnotes

Provenance
Boisgirard, Paris, Ecole de Paris, Pologne, Russie, Europe Centrale, 11 June 2008, lot 72
Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale)


Sonia Lewitska was a Post-Impressionist painter, printmaker and illustrator. She moved to Paris in 1905 to study painting.

Sonia Lewitska engaged in a refined art without losing what a poet called the gift of childhood. Independent, she eschewed all art theory and only investigated the best means of translating her own interior vision into art. Often inspired by Slavic folklore, Lewitska was another early member of the Parisian group. In 1905 she settled in Paris and continued her studies with Jean Marchand, who later became her husband. Beginning as a cubist and fauvist, she moved into a Post-Impressionist style and became known for her illustrations of limited edition books.

She exhibited at the Salon d'Automne (1910-1913, 1919-1925, 1927-1934), the Salon des Indépendants (1910-1914, 1920-1922), the Section d'Or, the Salon des Tuileries (1929, 1932, 1933), the Paris galleries аnd at the International exhibitions. In 1933 she took part in the Salon de Echanges. At the same time, accompanied by her friend Henriette Tirman, she helped André Fau and Francis Thieck in interior decoration, suggesting the services of painters from her closest circle: Raoul Dufy, André Lhote, André Hellé (1871-1945) and Jean Marchand, thereby supporting her friends during the country's economic crisis.