“Bohdanowicz was undoubtedly an original character: even dressed in random, multicoloured rags, she was able to give her ‘mise’ a unique character. Beneath this lay a soul wholly devoted to art, and the artist herself was prepared to sacrifice everything to live in the aura of art.

And even if nature had not been particularly generous to her in terms of physical appearance, it certainly did not neglect her, endowing the artist with a heart and mind that were extremely sensitive and open to art. (…) The artist, who appeared fragile and delicate, combined angelic and demonic traits. She was a person of great temperament”

Little is known about the life of this spirited sculptor. In the few publications in which Jadwiga Bohdanowicz is mentioned, biographical details from her youth are lacking. It is known that she was born in 1887 in Warsaw.

She chose Paris for her artistic education, travelling there between 1913 and 1916 to hone her talent for sculpture under the tutelage of Émile-Antoine Bourdelle. The French teacher and sculptor held the young artist’s talent in the highest regard, a sentiment he expressed by writing the foreword to the catalogue of her solo exhibition at the Balzac Gallery in New York (1930). He wrote at the time: “Ms Bohdanowicz studied for many years under my guidance alongside other young sculptors, and I hold her talent in particularly high regard.”

After completing her training in Bourdelle’s studio, Bohdanowicz left France for a few years. She most likely returned to Warsaw, from where, in 1919, she corresponded with Bourdelle and planned her return to Paris (correspondence preserved in the archives of the Bourdelle Museum). When she realised this plan in the early 1920s, she began collaborating with her master on the creation of many of his sculptures. She also became a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

The following years brought her numerous successes. In 1924, she received a scholarship from the French government, which enabled her to remain in the country to showcase her talent, thereby gaining the recognition of French and foreign critics. She also won first prizes in competitions organised by the Academies in Kraków and Warsaw. Bohdanowicz became part of the Polish artistic bohemian circle, which at that time included artists such as Henryk Gottlieb, Eugeniusz Zak, August Zamoyski, Roman Kramstyk, Leopold Zborowski and Witold Hulewicz. Their meeting place was the ‘La Rotonde’ café in Montparnasse.

She exhibited her works at numerous salons: the Paris Salon d’Automne from 1926 to 1929, the Salon des Tuileries (Paris, 1926–1938–1929), the Salon des Indépendants (Paris, 1927), the Exposition Internationale (Geneva), the Balzac Galleries (New York, 1930), and the Galerie de la Jeune Europe (Paris, 1933).

Her studio, too, which was situated at 18 Impasse du Maine in Paris, was open to anyone wishing to admire her works. As reported in *The New York Herald* (20 August 1922), the artist had there “several interesting examples of her recently completed sculptures. Her style, influenced by her studies of Gothic cathedrals, represents an interesting variation on her teacher’s manner, and her bold composition is refined and humanised. Her instinctive feminine interest in personality is reflected in the almost portrait-like details of her heads’.

The artist also collaborated with the Sèvres manufactory, which produced her sculptural designs for commercial use. However, this collaboration did not bring her popularity or financial stability.

In 1934, Bohdanowicz left Paris to settle in Rome. She joined the circle of Polish artists in the Eternal City, which centred around the famous Caffè Greco.

She joined the ‘Kapitol’ Association of Visual Artists, founded in Rome in 1936, whose members included artists such as Antoni Madeyski, Józef Gosławski, Wiktor Mazurowski, Krystyna Dąbrowska and Michał Paszyn. During the group’s first joint exhibition, which took place on 9 May 1936 at the Palazzo Doria in Rome, she presented two bronze sculptures: ‘an interesting female bust and a bas-relief depicting the Marshal’ (Józef Piłsudski – A.K.).

Bodanowicz also exhibited her works at the Venice Biennale in 1934 and 1936.

The artist mainly created portraits and busts, characterised by delicate modelling, a light and clear structure, and a rhythm in which “form and expression merge into an inseparable whole”. The sculptor drew inspiration from her study of the Italian Renaissance and medieval art, as well as from the influences she gained through her collaboration with Bourdelle. Prampolini wrote of her talent as follows:

“Bohdanowicz shaped clay, wax and marble in a Post-Impressionist style that demanded strength and passion; yet beneath her industrious thumb, worn raw to the flesh, one could sense something elusive and mysterious emanating from the material…”

The artist’s works include: a portrait of Bourdelle (1912), a portrait of Ali Khan (1925), in which “one is struck by the adherence to discipline, the elimination of detail, accompanied by a harmonious transition between planes”, *Jawajka* (1926), purchased by the French government in 1928; and a portrait of Chopin (1938/39), about which Kołtoński wrote as follows: “the extraordinary charm of her Chopin – between the beautifully poised, perhaps even slightly heavy hand and the deeply pensive face, there seems to be a flow of otherworldly energies”.

The bust of Nicolaus Copernicus for the University of Bologna, carved in white marble, ‘arguably the finest of her works to date’, or the bust of Miss M., ‘a very interesting interpretation (…). The symmetry of the figure’s angular planes blends into the overall composition, which still retains its internal rhythm’.

Unfortunately, as Małgorzata Dąbrowska writes, despite the recognition she received from eminent artists who supported and appreciated her, despite the favourable reviews of her artistic work, numerous international exhibitions, and the sale of some of her sculptures on the international market (*The New York Herald* of 20 August 1922 reports that the Polish sculptor sold one of her bronze sculptures to Mrs Alice Roullier of Chicago, whilst other works of hers are being seriously considered by the Albright Gallery of Buffalo), despite her collaboration with the Sèvres manufactory and the presence of her sculptures in museums, Bohdanowa never managed to build a career that would have secured her recognition and financial stability.

The outbreak of the Second World War plunged her into poverty. She died in the winter of 1943, leaving behind little more than a few personal possessions. She was buried in the communal Polish Artists’ Grave at Campo Verano, designed by Antonio Madeyski. This grave, which could ‘accommodate several coffins’, serves as the final resting place for distinguished Polish artists who died in poverty and whose remains would otherwise have been buried in a temporary mass grave. In 2014, the artists buried there were finally honoured with commemorative plaques (thanks to an initiative by Ewa Prządka, the gravestone was restored in 2014 by a team led by Prof. Janusz Smaz from the Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw).

The artist’s sculptures can be found in various parts of the world: in the United States, Italy and France. Part of the collection is housed at the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture in Warsaw’s Królikarnia.