#12 • "Polish Johanna" Portrait Pastel Drawings

Part of 2025 AKPM Donated Valuables Auction (timed auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $10.00

Status: Sold

Category: Art

Two illegibly signed 1991 pastel on paper portrait versions of a woman in traditional Eastern European, Polish, or Ukrainian, folk attire. The clothing, including the embroidered bodices and headscarves, is characteristic of regional ethnic dress, such as that of the Gorals or Hutsuls. A translated German note on the back of one of the pieces reads, "Today, on December 1, 1991, I give my sister Margritt A. Engel this picture of a woman for her birthday on December 10, 1991, 'The Polish Johanna!?,' Christamaria Bünge, Lange Str. 1, 28580 Wremen, December 1, 1991." The other piece's inscription translates as "For Christmas 1991, I give to my sister Margritt A. Engel, née Bünge, residing in the city of Anchorage/Alaska, the Pole, Elisabeth." Each piece is framed to an approximate overall size of 17.5" x 14".