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Head of a Girl

© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2024. Image credit: Ben Uri Collection

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Notes

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In 'Head of a Girl', Dobrinsky portrays a young girl, probably an orphan, whose tight-lipped mouth is sealed like a closed box. Her fixed stare and adult expression appear to express disenchantment, perhaps with the harshness of life. In contrast to her dark expression and bare surroundings, the painter uses a light, luminous palette and lively brushstrokes.

Dobrinsky began his artistic life as a sculptor in Kiev, but settled in Paris in 1912, where he became a painter. He briefly shared a studio with Chaim Soutine and became associated with the École de Paris (a loose association of mainly Jewish émigré artists). He spent the Second World War in hiding in southern France, returning to the capital in 1945. In the 1950s he worked at the Chateau de Chabannes, Limousin, which cared for children orphaned by the Nazis, where he painted numerous portraits of the staff and children.

Ben Uri Gallery & Museum

London

Title

Head of a Girl

Medium

oil on board

Measurements

H 33 x W 27 cm

Accession number

1987-74

Acquisition method

presented by Mrs Goldstein, 1945

Work type

Painting

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Ben Uri Gallery & Museum

108a Boundary Road, St John's Wood, London, Greater London NW8 0RH England

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