Léopold Zborowski

Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932) was a Polish poet, writer and art dealer.^[1]

Léopold Zborowski
Portrait of Léopold Zborowski by Amedeo Modigliani
Born	Léopold Zborowski (1889-03-10)10 March 1889 Zaleszczyki, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
Died	25 March 1932(1932-03-25) (aged 43) Paris, France
Nationality	Polish
Occupation	Art dealer
Years active	1914–1930

Biography

He was born in Zaleszczyki, in what was then Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria of Austria-Hungary (now a part of Ukraine), to a Jewish family.

Zborowski and his wife Anna (Hanka Zborowska) were contemporaries with Parisian artists such as Chaïm Soutine, André Derain and Amedeo Modigliani, who painted Zborowski's portraits. Léopold Zborowski was Amedeo Modigliani's primary art dealer and friend during the artist's final years, organizing his expositions and letting the Leghorn (Livorno) artist use his house as an atelier. He also was the first art dealer of René Iché, Chaïm Soutine, Maurice Utrillo, Émile Savitry, Marc Chagall and André Derain. There are three portraits of him by Modigliani, including a 173⁄4" by 103⁄4" artwork sold for $1,464,000 at Sotheby's in 2003.^[2]

As Modigliani's art dealer, Zborowski accumulated a small fortune, which he lost during the Great Depression of the 1930s, ultimately dying poor in Paris in 1932 of a heart attack. His widow was forced to sell his whole collection, which is now completely dispersed.^[3]