Helena Chwistek (Polish/Poland - 1910-2002)
Portrait (wearing coat)
Watercolor on paper, 11 x 7 1/2 inches
Framed dimensions: 15 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches

Chwistek was born in Milkowa, a village near Nowy Sacz, Poland

Provenance: Astrid & Dr. Halvor Jaeger collection (Famed chess set and art collectors)

Helena Chwistek painted outdoor and devotional scenes and had an important portrait period.

From the late 1970s through the 1980s the Jaeger family traveled extensively in Poland. They collected self-taught art from many towns and villages, often directly from the artists but also at collectives, stores and the few galleries that were open at the time. They also visited cultural centers, museums, churches and town halls. Beyond Poland, they would visit the museums and kunsthalle in West Germany, universities, archives and private collections that had or exhibited extensive examples of folk, devotional and religious Polish art.

Works from the Jaeger art collection have been exhibited at many museums and art spaces, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Baltimore Museum of Art, Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam, Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Ontario College of Art and Design, UCLA's Fowler in Los Angeles, University of Cologne galleries, and the Museum Funf Kontinente in Munich.