Adrien Karbowsky

Adrien Karbowsky
Karbowsky in August 1916 by Louise Catherine Breslau
Born	(1855-12-15)15 December 1855 Paris, France
Died	14 March 1945(1945-03-14) (aged 89) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Painter, decorator and architect
Known for	Art Nouveau

Adrien Karbowsky (15 December 1855 – 14 March 1945) was a French painter, decorator and architect, He is known for his Art Nouveau murals and tapestry designs.

Adrien Karbowsky was born on 15 December 1855. He was a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Lavastre, who decorated the Paris Opera, and of Justin Lequien. Karbowski also studied under Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. His Le bras Mignot, à Poissy was exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1881 in the Palais des Champs-Élysées, Paris. On 1 May 1886 his Calendrier républicain was shown at the Salon. At the Salon of 1889 he received an honorable mention.

Karbowsky became a leading decorator in the Art Nouveau style. He collaborated with Frantz Jourdain and Puvis de Chavannes. Karbowsky was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1902. He became a member of the Société de l'Art à L'École, founded in 1906 with the aim of improving public taste by teaching public school students about art and decorating the schools. A reviewer for American Art News wrote in February 1918,

Adrien Karbowsky shows, at the Petit Galleries also, a series of sketches of the heads of soldiers that are without distinctive merit, being for the most part wooden and characterless. But in the same room are 3 paintings of flowers by the same hand that are almost as wonderful, in delicacy of coloration and in truth of form, as Nature itself. One wonders how such an artist can be drawn away, even by the stern impressions of his life as a soldier at the front, from that vocation to excellent achievement which is incontestably his. I do not think that any French painter, now living, has better succeeded in the painting of flowers.

In 1923 Karbowsky was among the 27 dissenting members of the board of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts who formed a new and more eclectic Salon with the encouragement of the Minister of Fine Arts. The plan was to exhibit paintings and sculptures ranging in style from the most conservative to the most advanced. The Salon would be held in springtime, at the peak season for visitors to Paris.