Jerzy Duda-Gracz (1941 - 2004), Angel of Poland. Image 878, 1998

Watercolor, tempera, paper; 28 x 32 cm in st. p-p. (sheet);
signed, dated and described at bottom: ""Angel of Poland" (watercolor, tempera 26.5 x 23 cm). J. Duda. G. / 878 / 1998." (in ink)

Provenance:
gift of the artist

The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by heiress Agata Duda-Gracz, along with the stamp of the archive of Jerzy Duda-Gracz.

Although the artist freely used the grotesque, hyperbole or realism, the accents of nostalgia and poetic romanticism emerging from genre compositions or landscapes are also extremely important. A subject particularly close to his heart was Polishness. Sometimes depicted very bluntly, with a whole range of national vices. The painting "Angel of Poland" belongs to one such painterly reflection. Duda-Gracz has masterfully conveyed a wealth of metaphorical and cultural references using a concise compositional form.