oil, canvas, 92 x 73 cm, signed p.d.: 'Lenica' and described on the back: 'A. LENICA |1966| WARSAW | 'FLORA TRAPPED'| 92 X 73'"
"Flora Entrapped" is one of seven well-known paintings created between 1959 and 1969, to which the artist gave the title "Flora." This period is the most characteristic and also the most abundant in Alfred Lenica's oeuvre. It is also the moment of peak development and artistic career of the painter.
The composition of the painting is built by biological patches of red, yellow or green tightly filling the picture. On top of them loom lines and dots of black paint. Noteworthy here is the artist's use of black, as if constructing or keeping the whole composition in check. This phenomenon was present in Lenica's painting from the beginning in his cubic and surreal paintings, collages and often as a thick contour line.
Bożena Kowalska "Towards a new painterly creation" [in:] Alfred Lenica Painting , Arsenal City Gallery, Poznań 2002
In Alfred Lenica's case, a special role was played by his love of the forces of life, biological growth, that which is born and brings hope. Hence, at least to some extent, the fabric of his painting, which seems to arise before our eyes, explode with geysers of forms, spread with patches of shapes, develop with strings of weaves, interpenetrating each other, as if expanding upwards, downwards, sideways and into the depths of illusory space. (...) And it sometimes happens that these forms approach plant, animal or human forms by chance.
quoted in Alfred Lenica. Works from 1961-1973, Cracow Group Association, Krzysztofory Gallery Cracow, University Gallery of Contemporary Art BWA-US, Cieszyn June/July 1987, elaborated. Maciej Gutowski
I went to the opening of an exhibition of paintings by my father-in-law, Alfred Lenica, whom we call grandfather. I went to the opening animated by a sincere kindness for the kind old man to whom I owe my wife. So I set off with the consciousness of my goodwill, my gracious condescension, I set off heavily delayed [...] I appeared at the Zachęta when it was already heavily deserted. I stood in the great hall and turned into a pillar of salt. Yes, I was just dumbfounded. In front of me were five great halls filled tightly with magnificent painting, painting that was dynamic, strong, cheerful, kind to people, painting that was full of personal and warm poetry. I shook my head in disbelief collecting my thoughts. These paintings were just like our old Fredzio: trusting, noble, completely detached from reality, naive and reasonable, good and manic in their belief in art, craving people and very pure. It made me uncomfortable, because I realized that our frivolous protoplast was a serious artist.
Tadeusz Konwicki, Calendar and Hourglass , Warsaw 1976, p. 185.
ORIGIN:
- private collection
- owned by Tadeusz Konwicki
EXHIBITED:
- Alfred Lenica, Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw, 1974 (cat. no. 486)
He began his studies in 1922 at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Poznan. At the same time he studied music at the Conservatory of Music. He furthered his painting interests by studying at the Private Institute of Fine Arts run by Adam Hannytkiewicz. In the 1930s, Alfred Lenica painted figurative paintings, primarily still lifes and landscapes, taking his inspiration from Cubism. At the beginning of the war, the Lenica family was displaced from Poznan and went to Krakow. The war time was a turning point in the painter's career. The Krakow artistic milieu centered around Tadeusz Kantor, especially his friendship with Jerzy Kujawski, resulted in a deepening of the painter's interest in the avant-garde. In 1945, Alfred Lenica returned to Poznan, where he became involved in artistic activities. In 1947 he became a co-founder of the avant-garde group 4F+R. After years of trials and explorations, Lenica moved more and more towards abstraction and Tashism. In 1948 he took part in the First Exhibition of Modern Art in Cracow organized by Tadeusz Kantor. Since 1955, Alfred Lenica's painting style, which would accompany him until his death, finally clarified. The style was a combination of Tashism, Surrealism, Informel and Dripping. It involved large-format oil paintings painted in a technique developed earlier by the artist (getting color translucence from under successive layers of paint), which he later perfected and developed. Lenica readily used lacquers and industrial paints. He presented a style of abstract painting with a Surrealist-Expressionist tinge. Lenica traveled extensively; at the invitation of the United Nations, he was in Geneva in 1959/60, where he created a mural painting "Three Elements" (Water, Fire and Love) at the headquarters of the organization. He maintained constant contact with the domestic artistic avant-garde, exhibited with the Cracow Group, took part in most open-air events in Osieki near Koszalin, and participated in the symposium "Art in a Changing World" in 1966 in Puławy. The largest exhibition of Lenica's works was held in 1974 at the Zachęta Gallery.
