Tadeusz Styka (1889 Kielce-1954 New York), Head of the Lion, 1911

sanguine, pencil, paper, 23.5 × 19.5 cm in light passe-partout
Signed and dated with dedication at the bottom: "A Madame Gabrielle Réval/en souvenir TADE. STYKA.1911."

The featured drawing was dedicated by Tadeusz Styka to Gabrielle Réval. Gabrielle Réval (born Gabrielle Logerot; 1870-1938), French writer, feminist activist. She was one of the first graduates of the famous École normale supérieure pour les jeunes filles in Sèvres near Paris, which nurtured the female intellectual elite of France at the turn of the 20th century. After passing her higher examinations in 1893, she taught at the Niort High School for Girls, while simultaneously publishing in the press and giving numerous conferences throughout Europe. Her writing activities, which included such titles as Les Sévriennes (1900), La Bachelière (1910), and La Bachelière en Pologne (1911), earned her some fame and the Legion of Honor. She was one of the founders of the French literary award La Vie heureuse, which later became the prestigious Prix Femina. Her second husband was the poet and novelist Fernand Fleuret, the "spiritual brother" of Guillaume Apollinaire, and a close friend of the painter Raoul Dufy. During World War I, she was involved in the Polish cause, delivering, among other things, a lecture entitled La Pologne amoureuse et guerriere at the Vieux Colombier theater in Paris, organized by the League of Women of Free Profession on March 4, 1918. She also maintained contacts with Tadeusz Styka and Jan Kozakiewicz. (Text: Ewa Bobrowska, Urszula Kozakowska-Zaucha, source: https://zbiory.mnk.pl/pl/ galleries-thematic/514/catalog/198762) In 1912 the writer was portrayed by Olga Boznańska. This painting belongs to the collection of the National Museum in Cracow. Tadeusz Styka became famous primarily as a great portraitist. His oeuvre also included landscapes as well as images of animals. In particular, as an animalist, he liked to paint lions. These proud and beautiful animals appeared in the artist's earlier works. These compositions were very often reproduced in both the Polish and French press. The drawing "Lion's Head" from 1911 is most likely a sketch for the oil painting "Lions. A Royal Couple."