Watercolor and marker on paper.
Dimensions: 14.5 x 13 cm, 16 x 14.5 cm
Signed and dated at the bottom.
On separate cardboard: drawing and dedication.
Provenance: Private collection - Israel
Unframed work.
Certificate of authenticity.
The work on display, created in the '60s, belongs to one of Jan Lebenstein's most recognizable and fascinating series - "Axial Figures", which are emblematic of the artist's paintings. Lebenstein composed his works, both paintings and drawings, according to a closely considered scheme. "Figures" are characterized by a vertical, axial division, along which spill planes of color maintained in seemingly unimpressive, earthy, beige-brown tones. In his work, Lebenstein often referred to cultural texts, ancient mythology and the Bible, seeking in them a path toward modern thinking about art and shaping its apocalyptic vision in the process.
Transpositions of human figures, skeletons of wild animals and images of overscaled insects emerge from these seemingly unobvious representations. These works reflect the artist's fascination with archaic cultures, bringing to mind totems associated with religious worship. The figures spanning the axes are outlined with a clear black outline, overlaid with fluid backgrounds. "Axial Figures" by Lebenstein were created both in oil technique on canvas and, as in the case of the presented work, were painted with gouache on paper. The value of these emblematic compositions is enhanced by the richness of the painting matter. The artist achieved his characteristic roughness and graininess of texture not only in his oil works, but also on paper, as is evident in this work.
Jan Lebenstein (1930 - 1999) studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 1948 to 1954 under Prof. Eugeniusz Eibisch and Artur Nacht-Samborski. In 1955 he took part in an exhibition at the Warsaw Arsenal. A friend of Miron Białoszewski during his studies, he showed his first solo exhibition in 1956 at the Tarczynska Theater. In 1959, he won the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris at the First Biennale of the Young in Paris, and moved to Paris permanently that year. After the series of "drawn figures" (on millimeter paper) and "hieratic figures" from 1955-1958, he paints a series of "axial figures" (1958-1962), which he exhibits in Paris and the USA. At the same time, in 1960, he starts drawing "carnets," a kind of diary, which in the future will provide the motifs used in the paintings. In 1964-1965 he paints "Bestiary," a series of textured, archaic creatures reminiscent of prehistoric excavations. Immediately after, he introduces human and fantastic figures into his paintings, acting out scenes neither mythological nor from a dream, often imbued with eroticism. In 1970, he designs stained glass windows for the Centre du Dialogue in Paris. In 1971 receives French citizenship 1974 creates gouaches inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm. In 1976-1989 he creates exclusively in gouache and pastel, taking up mythological themes and those taken from the Bible: cycles of illustrations to the Book of Job (published in 1979) and the Apocalypse (published in 1986) in new translations by Czeslaw Milosz. In 1989 he returns to oil painting (series "Pergamon"). The artist received, among others, the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award in 1976, the Warsaw Archdiocese Museum Award in 1985, the Jan Cybis Award in 1987.(source Agra Art)
