gouache, ink, millimeter paper, 58 x 42.5 cm in light passe-partout, signed l.d.: 'LEBENSTEIN 1959'
ORIGIN:
- private collection, United States
- Chalette Gallery, New York
The work on display was created in the artist's breakthrough year of 1959, when his works won the top prize at the Paris Biennale of the Young and he decided to settle permanently in the city. That very year, the twenty-nine-year-old artist took part in several exhibitions abroad, including such prestigious events as the Sao Paulo Biennale and Documenta in Kassel. This was the beginning of a period in which Lebenstein had the opportunity to exhibit at prestigious art institutions. Soon he also began working with New York gallerist Artur Lejwa, at whose Gallerie Chalette he exhibited his works.
"Posture" belongs to the "Axial Figures" series, which began to be created in 1955.
"Lebenstein takes up a completely new subject - the human figure, whose shape is simplified and it becomes immobile, trapped in the flat space of the frame. These works are initially made on millimeter paper using ink, watercolor and gouache. They are gnarled and delightful in their delicacy and finesse. The title figures resemble totems, they refer to some private mythology to which we have no access, but nevertheless captivate us with their power of expression, the simplicity of a few lines of ink with which their creation is accomplished."
Tomasz Jeziorowski, Searching for Myth [in:] Jan Lebenstein. Painting and Drawing, State Art Gallery, Sopot 2020, p. 5.
Analogous gouaches were presented at the famous "15 Polish Painters" exhibition organized by Peter Selz in 1961 at MoMA in New York.
He was one of the greatest Polish painters of the second half of the 20th century. He studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in the studio of A. Nacht-Samborski. He made his debut at the exhibition "Against War, Against Fascism" at the Warsaw Arsenal in 1955. Since the mid-1950s, the Axial Figures - the emblem of his painting - slowly crystallized. In the fall of 1959, his Axial Figures were shown at the First Biennale in Paris, initiated by the then Minister of Culture André Malraux. Lebenstein received the Biennale's top prize and had a major monographic exhibition at the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1961. From 1960, he settled permanently in Paris. The 1960s, and especially the early years, were a great international success for the young Polish painter. His paintings can be found in the most important European exhibitions, in private American collections, as well as in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others. During this period Lebenstein formed close friendships with Konstanty A. Jeleński, Aleksandr Wat, Mary McCarthy, Romain Gary, Jean Seberg, Jean Cassou. In the following years, he drew themes from ancient literature, mythology, the Bible. He created a series devoted to depictions of prehistoric animals. He was associated with the milieu of the Parisian "Kultura", among other things, he illustrated short stories published there by G. Herling-Grudziński and G. Orwell's "Animal Farm" published there. Honored with many awards, including: Grand Prix de la Ville Paris (1959). A. Jurzykowski Foundation Award (New York, 1976), J. Cybis Award (1987).
