Jan Bogusław Kober

Additional info:

Educated at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts under Stanisław Lentz between 1908 and 1912, Jan Bogusław Kober developed a practice that bridged painting and printmaking, grounded in a strong academic formation yet open to the stylistic innovations of the early twentieth century. Portraiture remained central to his work, and he achieved recognition for his refined depictions of political and royal figures, notably the portrait of Prince Farouk, heir to the Egyptian throne. Extensive travels through Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Italy and France enriched Kober’s visual language, allowing him to merge European academic realism with a sensitivity to local atmospheres and cultural diversity. His sustained engagement with the artistic life of the Middle East culminated in the organisation of the First Salon of Painting in Beirut in 1932, which positioned him as a mediator between European and Levantine artistic circles. Throughout his career, Kober exhibited widely across Europe and the Middle East, maintaining a cosmopolitan outlook that defined both his creative identity and the circulation of his work. His art embodies the dynamic exchange between tradition and modernity, reflecting a nuanced understanding of portraiture as both cultural record and aesthetic construction