sign. p.d.: J.Nowosielski
signed on the reverse on the canvas g.: 1961 | JERZY NOWOSIELSKI, p.g.: 22.
on the reverse on the g. rails of the loom signed by hand: DESA WWA, on the p. rails of the loom signed by hand: 0/111/65/1 | DBBBB.
Authenticity of the painting consulted with Mr. Andrzej Szczepaniak.
Attached to the painting is a certificate of the Nowosielski Foundation dated May 21, 2012.
The painting exhibited and reproduced:
- Jerzy Nowosielski. Painting [exhibition catalog, introduction by Aleksander Wojciechowski, BWA, Szczecin 11 VI - 19 VII 1962, il. 4 ch.-b;
- Jerzy Nowosielski [ exhibition catalog, introduction by Mieczysław Porębski], Warsaw, Zachęta, 6 - 26 March 1963, il. 10 p.-b;
- Jerzy Nowosielski [exhibition catalog, introduction by Tadeusz Chrzanowski] Kraków, Krzysztofory Gallery, 3 Oct - 7 Nov 1964, il. 5 p.-b;
- Dom Turysty, Klub Międzynarodowej Prasy i Książki (KMPiK), Pegaz Gallery, Zakopane, 19 Dec 1964 - II 1965, solo exhibition;
- Jerzy Nowosielski [exhibition catalog], BWA Exhibition Pavilion, Cracow, 19 I - 17 II 1974, il. 5 ch.-b;
- Jerzy Nowosielski. Painting, Poznań [exhibition catalog], Stary Rynek, Arsenal, 19 Aug - 5 Sept 1976, il. 5 p.-b.
The depiction of a woman, especially her body, occupies a unique place in Jerzy Nowosielski's art. The artist, wanting to "restore the spiritual meaning of corporeality," developed his own canon of the nude, which became an elementary motif of his painting. In addition to the naked, sometimes controversial "Nowosielski ladies," the creator of "secular icons" also developed - although not as intensively - a more official current of portrait painting, devoid of references to eroticism. The first images of women belonging to it, made in watercolor and oil techniques, appeared in the 1940s. As a rule, these were bust shots with individualized features, often by means of a suggestive single gesture or glance conveying the character of the heroine. With time, the facial features underwent hieratic typification drawing patterns from icon painting. This is how Bożena Kowalska described them: the figures in Nowosielski's paintings have nothing of individual life. They are characterized by lofty dignity, untouchable dignity and the majesty of mystical duration. Their transcendence and timelessness, metaphysical distance relate them to the figures of icons. The cited characterization also corresponds to the Portrait of a Lady in a Blue Dress presented in the catalog. Her silhouette, shown against a uniform, abstract background, refers to compositional patterns known from icons. The silent face, sharply sculpted with conventional chiaroscuro, is devoid of eyes - instead of them two almond-shaped holes appear. This type of treatment, appearing in many of Nowosielski's other portraits, sometimes also took the form of close-fitting black glasses. Rare, however, were the attributes accompanying the portrayed person. The title "lady" shows a photograph or painting depicting herself holding her portrait in her hands. The artist used a similar "picture-in-picture" concept in his 1957 work In the Studio, where a woman, dressed in a red coat, looks - as if in a mirror - at a canvas standing on an easel. Multiple repetitions of the image of a modest and anonymous woman, "full of Byzantine solemnity," lend - to this seemingly austere and ceremonial representation - an unusual aura of poetics and mystery.
♣ to the auctioned price, in addition to other costs, will be added a fee resulting from the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Law of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite)
Jerzy Nowosielski (Krakow 1923 - Krakow 2011) began his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Krakow in 1940. In 1942 he stayed for less than a year in the St. John the Baptist Lavra near Lviv. There he studied the art of painting and the history of icons. After returning to Krakow in 1943, he re-established contacts with the circle of the future Krakow Group. After the war, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under Prof. Eugeniusz Eibisch (1945-1947). At the First Exhibition of Modern Art in Cracow in 1948/49, he showed paintings maintained in the geometric abstraction trend. During the years of Socialist Realism, he did not exhibit, dealing at the time with stage design and painting of churches and orthodox churches. In 1955 in Lodz he presented his first solo exhibition, in 1956 he participated in the XXVIII Venice Biennale. From 1957 to 1962 he was a teacher at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Lodz, then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where he taught at the Faculty of Painting until his retirement in 1993. In the second half of the 1950s he achieved a distinctive style of nudes, landscapes and figural scenes in interiors, which he owed to his fascination with icons and his experience with sacred painting. In 1976, he took up monumental works anew, producing mural paintings, Stations of the Cross and designs for stained glass windows in the Church of Divine Providence in Wesola near Warsaw (1976-1979). The artist was widely recognized as an authority on art rooted in spiritual values.
Jerzy Nowosielski died on February 21, 2011 in Krakow, Poland.
