The Meeting of Pola Negri and Tadeusz Styka

Tadeusz Styka (1889–1954), son of the painter Jan Styka, gained fame in Poland and around the world for his skill as a portraitist. Among those who posed for him were: Enrico Caruso, the greatest singer of all time; his main operatic rival, Fyodor Shalapin; Marshal Ferdinand Foch; as well as actresses such as Dolly Gray, Marion Davies, Jayne Manners, and politicians, led by Ignacy Paderewski and Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, for us, Tadeusz Styka is first and foremost the artist behind two portraits of one of the most famous Polish women of all time – Pola Negri, or Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec.

Yet here, art history plays a trick on us. In the public consciousness, shaped by copies of the actress’s image reproduced on postcards, posters, soap bars and chocolates, only one portrait has become firmly established: that of a dark-haired lady with a shawl draped over her half-naked back.
Of course, such a portrait does exist; what is more, Negri was happy to be photographed with it, which suggests she must have been pleased with it. Nevertheless, perhaps out of fear of the looming Second World War, she donated it to the National Museum in Warsaw, where it remains on display to this day.

The history of the second of Styka’s portraits turned out to be more complicated.

Tadeusz Styka and the ‘Portrait of Pola Negri’ from San Antonio

The dates of creation for both paintings are similar. ‘Pola in a Fur Coat’ was completed before 1930, whilst the so-called ‘Emerald Pola’ was completed in 1924, when Apolonia Chałupiec posed for Styka in a flowing, long emerald gown with a plunging neckline and a matching cape trimmed with luxurious brown fur. A golden ring, most likely set with an emerald, catches the eye. Legend has it that the actress possessed precious stones the size of a golf ball in her collection.

The portrait itself is rather understated. Her dark hair is longer than usual; she has a fair complexion with thin, sharply defined eyebrows and red lips. Her fingernails, with which she holds up the hem of her gown, are also red. The background of the portrait is monochromatic. Both the pouffe on which the subject is seated and the surface behind her back are painted in ochre.

Styka specialised in sensual, though somewhat unrealistic, portrayals of women. ‘Emerald Pola’ draws the viewer’s attention with her gaze directed towards them, whilst at the same time delighting with the variety of textures and the precision of the shades rendered by the painter. In her will, read out following Pola Negri’s death in 1987, there was a provision for this painting to be bequeathed to the San Antonio Museum of Art. The remaining mementoes were to be divided between the Louis J. Blume Library and Trinity University in San Antonio. Furthermore, the actress had set aside funds to enable the university to award an annual arts scholarship in her name.

Apolonia Chałupiec, better known as Pola Negri

Apolonia Chałupiec (Chalupec) was born around 1896 in Lipno in the Dobrzyń region. Her father was Slovak and her mother Polish – that much is known for certain. Everything else is more or less made up, most likely by the actress herself. She used to say, for example, that her father had been deported to Siberia for political activities, though in reality he was most likely just an ordinary con artist. After he left, little Pola, accompanied by her mother, Eleonora Kiełczewska, who remained by her side throughout her life, moved to Warsaw. There, the girl took her first lessons in ballet and acting and honed her talent on the capital’s theatre stages.

The actress made her film debut in 1914. The film *Slave of the Senses* proved to be a huge hit, paving the way for her international fame. In honour of the poet Ada Negri (whose works were translated into Polish by Maria Konopnicka) Apolonia Chałupiec adopted the pseudonym Pola Negri and first took Germany by storm, before arriving in the United States in 1923, where (with a few interruptions) she remained for the rest of her life. It should be emphasised that she is regarded as the first European star in Hollywood.

Negri was a true phenomenon, even by today’s standards. Conscious of her own beauty and talent, she shaped not only her acting roles but also her life. The greatest luminaries of the time vied for her favours, but it remains Negri’s secret as to what was genuine affection and what was merely a marketing ploy.

In the footsteps of Pola Negri in Texas

Pola Negri never returned to her homeland, although she visited Europe on numerous occasions. Whilst her beloved mother was still alive, the actress lived in a snow-white villa in Los Angeles. Later, however (after 1954), she moved to San Antonio in Texas. This choice was no coincidence, for it was there that her friend – or, as some would have it, her partner – Margaret West, heiress to an oil fortune, owned family estates. And so the words of a pre-war song by Henryk Wars and Artur Maria Swiniarski came true, in which the refrain goes:

Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony,
I’ve lost my heart by the boundary.
Oh, what will become of me, Saint Anthony,
When the neighbours find out.

All these ‘lost’ items were in fact found in the town of St Anthony, Texas. The climate there was similar to that of California, whilst life amongst the farmers, far from the film industry and the paparazzi, provided both Negri and West with discretion and peace. They first stayed at the beautiful Meneger Hotel, and then moved into a stately villa.

After Margaret West’s death, the actress moved into a flat on Broadway. Here she led such a quiet, scandal-free life that it is only in the last few years, thanks to admirers from Poland, that traces of her time in Texas have been uncovered. On a day-to-day basis, she devoted herself to teaching; she even published a guide for aspiring actors, she also supported Polish émigré communities, contributed to the local church and – a fact worthy of further investigation – is said to have made donations to a centre for the blind in Laski, near Warsaw.

Pola Negri’s post-war career

Apolonia Chałupiec, alias Pola Negri, was one of the Tenth Muse’s most loyal companions. She began as a silent film actress, going on to participate in successive breakthroughs, from sound films to colour films. But her star never shone as brightly as it had before the war.

Unfortunately, what we would probably consider her greatest asset today – her relatively low, sensual voice – became an obstacle to her career’s further development. After 1945, she was too tired – and perhaps disillusioned with the film industry – to return to the screen. She relented only once, in 1964, when, at the request of Walt Disney himself, she starred in *The Moon Spinners*. Interestingly, she was partnered by a live cheetah, with whom she also enjoyed being photographed off set.

Pola Negri was often asked about the secret of her longevity – she died aged 90, despite her well-known penchant for stimulants and an equally strong aversion to doctors. She would reply that she was not old at all; it was simply that her friends were no longer alive.

A great woman who, right up until her final days, radiated artistic genius and femininity. It was this Pola Negri that Styka immortalised.