Bilinski Roman (1897-1981) - Oil On Canvas "bordighera", Signed Lower Left

BILINSKI Roman born in Lviv (Ukraine) in 1897 and died in Bordighera in 1981. Oil on canvas representing "Bordighera" Signed lower left and dated 1961. Canvas dimensions: 80 x 60 cm Roman Bilinski was born in Lviv on July 15, 1897 in a wealthy family. From a young age, he was passionate about painting and was particularly interested in the representation of flowers and plants. After receiving artistic training in the academies of Lviv and Krakow, he studied at the Kiev Art Institute. According to Italian sources, Bilinski lived in Istanbul for about fifteen years from 1920. In the 1920s, a member of the Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople, he was known as a sculptor. His most famous work at the time was the bust of the émigré painter Dmitri Ismailovich, presented in the summer of 1922 at the first major exhibition of the Union. In one of the private archives there is a photo showing all three: Roman Bilinski, Dmitri Ismailovich and his bust. Italian sources also reveal that Bilinski was commissioned by Kemal Atatürk to supervise the restoration of Hagia Sophia, where Nikolai Kluge worked under the direction of Thomas Whittemore, and to organize the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts by collecting objects from all over Turkey in order to enrich the museum's collection. On the latter point, Bilinski is indeed known to be a passionate and connoisseur of local antiquities. The further fate of this sculptor, artist and restorer took a rather unexpected turn, as is often the case for artists from the former Russian Empire. According to Marco Farotto, author of the book Roman Bilinski - Un artista cosmopolita nel Ponente ligure, whose family members were friends of Bilinski and his third wife Marcella Conte, the artist was working in Yugoslavia when World War II broke out. After the war, in 1946, he settled first in Camogli and then, in 1949, in Bordighera. At one point, Bilinski was the portrait painter for the family of the German writer Thomas Mann. According to Italian sources, Bilinski ended up in Italy because he had joined Anders' army with the rank of captain in the Red Cross. He died of a heart attack on March 26, 1981. Roman Bilinski's last painting was titled Mimosa Cascade.