Tadeusz BRZOZOWSKI (1918-1987), Szlafcymer & nakastlik, 1982

pen, ink, lavage ink, cardboard, 50 x 72.5 cm (in light passe-partout);
signed and dated l. d.: T.B.82, inscribed l. g.: "Szlafcymer & nakastlik".

Provenance:
- Purchase from the artist's legacy;
- Private collection, Poland.

The figure of Tadeusz Brzozowski is an exceptional case of an optimistic, cheerful attitude to life, which is reflected in his works. The artist was associated with the Cracow Group and the international circle of Surrealists associated in the Phases grouping. Since the 1950s, that is, the times of Stalinism and the prevailing doctrine of socialist realism in art, drawings, works on paper have become an important form of artistic expression
artistic expression. This was due to the scarcity experienced especially by a group of young visual artists standing in opposition to the dictated
style of socialist realism. Since 1956, after two decades of relative stability for artists, martial law was declared, which probably for many of them evoked reminiscences of the 1950s.Due to the prevailing difficulties associated with the lack of availability of working tools - paints and good quality canvases, the artist created only small-scale painting performances and turned again to drawing. In 1981, more than 100 works were created on excellent quality paper, which, until then, along with exquisite inks, lay forgotten in a corner of the studio. Despite the difficult working conditions, in the first half of the 1980s Brzozowski's humor, perversity and a certain grotesque character trait never left him. Just look at the titles of the paintings. In the case of the ink on offer, we are dealing with a horse (a perverse personification of a nobleman) caught in a potty. After checking the etymology of the word potty, it turns out that nakastlik (now nightstand in Malopolska speech) was originally a box with a potty or night pot, and Wladyslaw Smoleń in his "Historical Writings" published in 1901 mentions: "After a day's toil, the nobles lead their tired horses out to the potty - into the meadows or into the forest, if the grass grows luxuriantly there." Szlafcymer, in turn, is loosely translated, the nobility mentioned by Smolen.