Jan GOTARD (1898-1943), Three Figures (1925)
oil, canvas
113 x 103 cm
Signed and dated p.d.: JAN GOTARD 1925
Jan Gotard studied at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw under T. Pruszkowski and W. Skoczylas from 1923-27; 1929-37 assistant to Pruszkowski there; one of the founders of the Brotherhood of St. Luke (1925); from 1934 member of the Professional Bloc of Polish Artists. The main motif of Gotard's work were portraits and portrait studies treated as genre subjects (Znachorka, Portret Antoniego Michalaka, both ca. 1928); he also practiced history painting (Sejm elekcyjny 1938; participation in work on paintings for the Polish pavilion at an exhibition in New York 1939) and fantasy-allegoric (Fairy Tale of Cinderella 1937). Initially Gotard's paintings were characterized by expressive contours, bizarre coloring and sharp contrasts of light and shadow; there were clear inspirations from 17th-century Dutch painting; around 1932 the artist softened his expression in favor of fluidity and painterly blurring of contours (Lady in a Red Sweater circa 1938); during his college years he also worked in artistic printmaking.