Janina KRAUPE-ŚWIDERSKA (1921 - 2016), Ursa Guardian; 1997

oil , canvas; 98 x 75 cm
Signed, described and dated on the back: JANINA KRAUPE/ ,,GUARDIAN URSA"/ OIL 1997
Provenance:
from the collection of the artist's family

One of the most interesting and original Polish artists. Already at the age of seventeen in 1938, she began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. During World War II, she continued her studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule (1940-1941) in the studio of Friedrich Pautsch, where she met Tadeusz Kantor, Kazimierz Mikulski, Tadeusz Brzozowski, among others, with whom she became friends and became artistically connected. From 1942 to 1943, she participated in Kantor's underground theater activities. After the war, she continued her studies in easel painting under Eugeniusz Eibisch and in monumental painting under Waclaw Taranczewski. At the same time, she studied printmaking in the studios of Andrzej Jurkiewicz and Konrad Srzednicki. She worked at her alma mater, obtaining the title of associate professor in 1980 and full professor in 1987. She participated in shaping Polish modern art while being an auteur focused on her own direction. The artist was associated with the Cracow Group, but her paintings also show the influence of the esoteric Katowice-based Oneiron Group. Janina Kraupe - Świderska in her works refers to alchemical traditions where there were no separate individual sciences yet. Consciously choosing a direction beyond what seems current, referring to the world in time past, she reaches deep into the spiritual space where perfecting herself translates into perfecting matter. A peculiar kind of writing appears in her works, in which the influence of various ancient and modern alphabets or forms of musical notation are visible. In her works every symbol, color has a justification. The artist's works intrigue, vibrate, are open and ambiguous.
Janina Kraupe - Świderska has repeatedly represented Poland at international exhibitions, for example: the Venice Art Biennale, the Sao Paulo Art Biennale and EXPO in Seville. The artist's works are in numerous museums and private collections, including the National Museums in Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, Szczecin, Warsaw, the Art Museum in Lodz as well as museums in Dortmund, Dresden, Florence, Geneva, New York, Oxford, Sao Paulo Vienna and many others.