Wojciech Weiss (1875 Leorda in Bukovina - 1950 Krakow), Grapevine. Bacchanalia, 1937.

oil, canvas, 50.5 × 65.4 cm
signed with bound monogram middleground: "WW"

Provenance:
- Poland, private collection;
- Doyle New York, auction on September 16, 2020, item 6;
- New Jersey, Montclair, collection of Dorothea Benton Frank;
- New York, Brooklyn, Lipert Gallery.



Wojciech Weiss was an undisputed master of the nude. He was able to show the beauty and sensuality of the female body in his compositions with extraordinary sensitivity.
"That painting matter most luminous and most sensitive, most changeable and dependent on the environment - is: the body! An eternal and wonderful source of study! In the delicate life of the epidermis, in the passages of elusive reflections of the body, the painter can sink all the way in and fill his life with it! Only as long as this sensual delight does not get disturbed! not to impose anything on it! - to preserve the simple and clear meaning of nature! - That's why Weiss doesn't dictate the model's pose, doesn't bend and twist his members, in search of unusual movements. She looks at him. He observes him. He is inspired by him. Beauty is always natural. The most immortal poses are those created by nature itself. [...] Weiss is not looking for philosophical meditations in the act, nor geometric considerations, nor architecture.... he doesn't turn women into columns - he just wants to paint them in the splendor of their bodies - like a flower picked, like a ripe fruit thrown between clouds of matter on the whiteness of batiste! Like a jewel among still life! To create ever new orchestrations of flesh colors and harmonize them together with their drapery surroundings! - Like Titian or Tinroretto - illuminate the background of your paintings with the pearl of the reclining body. - Bring out the transparency of the epidermal lasers, running the gamut of tones from dark, brown, golden or red, blood infused, to bright, silvery, phosphorescent white.... Paint the white bodies of Venus lying down, emerged from the whiteness of the sea foam! From these movements of the recumbent, lazy and soft, from the repose of bodies slender and supple, tossed casually on the whiteness of the sheets or tucked into the corner of the couch, from the nonchalance of the carelessly curved thighs and hips, from the provocation of the small, round, forward-thrusting breasts, from the coquetry of the legs pressed under each other - Weiss brought out an infinite richness of motif..." (Stanislaw Swierz, "Wojciech Weiss," [in:] Fine Arts, R. 2, no. 4, 1925-26, pp. 152-154.)
Weiss often showed his models in the studio, in unstudied but natural poses. He also found inspiration, both in posing and subjects, in the classics of old masters' painting. Women in Weiss' work begin to appear like the beautiful Venus from Renaissance canvases. Following this inspiration, Weiss paints "Venus" in 1916 and "Muses" in 1927, among others. A specific continuation of this trend is the painting presented at the auction, "Grapevine. Bacchanalia" from 1937. This work is identical to the painting "Drunken Girl" created in the same year (reproduced in: "Records of Changes, Polish Art from the Collection of Krzysztof Musiał" exhibition catalog, edited by Barbara Ilkosz, Wroclaw, 2007, p. 115.). Both scenes refer to the Dionysian festival. In the painting in the auction catalog, we see a naked girl, engulfed in sleep - perhaps intoxicated by the liquor that pours from a lightly supported jug onto her feet. Her naked, voluptuous body is framed by the warm light coming from the left side of the painting's frame, bringing out the beauty of the alabaster figure. The auctioned painting has a more elaborate composition - on the right, Weiss depicted a golden-breasted cupid watching over the sleeping woman, holding a bunch of grapes.