ALEKSANDER GIERYMSKI, c. 1880 - c. 1881 - Jewess with Oranges / oil on canvas, 65.0 x 54.0 cm
АЛЕКСАНДР ГЕРЫМСКИЙ - Еврейка с апельсинами
☆
Location: The National Museum in Warsaw, Poland.
Sources: cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/en/catalog/454885
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewess_with_Oranges
TEXT: LESZEK LUBICKI
During his stay in Warsaw, Alexander Gierymski often used motifs related to the city's life. He was fascinated by such districts as Powiśle, Solec and the Old Town. Thanks to this, we can now see a picture of the world that no longer exists, and has been preserved on Gierymski's canvases and drawings.
Jewish with Oranges as many as 440 days conservation of this painting took place after it was found in 2010, in a small auction house in Germany.
During World War II, it was plundered by the nazis in circumstances not explained to this day. Since the beginning of the war, Germany has stolen the most valuable exhibits from the museums of the conquered countries. However, they did not take this work, they did not consider it worthy of deportation. It was probably only after the Warsaw Uprising that it disappeared in the chaotic transport of works of art carried out by the occupier. The painting popularly called the Oranger thanks to the efforts of the Polish authorities, however, was not sold at auction in the said auction house. His owner explained that she had no idea that the canvas was looted by the nazis. After appropriate negotiations, the painting returned to its place in July 2011, i.e. to the National Museum in Warsaw. It was very damaged, a bit repainted, probably to hide its authenticity. From the end of 2012, after conservation, we can watch it in the 19th Century Art Gallery.
Aleksander Gierymski painted a Jewess with Oranges, painted in 1881. He was never entirely satisfied with his own work, but he assessed this painting as successful and one of his best. In the painter's correspondence we find the following statement: "A Jewess was perhaps the best picture (...). Plastic and colorful diablo. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but if I get back to painting seriously, only large or medium figures will remain for me - nothing from the landscape''.
There are many reasons why this canvas is considered a masterpiece. One of them is definitely "performance virtuosity''. Of course, painting from the realism circle should be a faithful mirror of the world, but the photographic accuracy of the image reaches the limits of hyperrealism, which was hardly seen in contemporary Polish painting. Despite being rooted in Warsaw realities, from the formal point of view the image must be included among the great works (characterized by a passion for hyperrealistic fidelity) of Munich realism. Which is natural considering the fact that Gierymski was educated and mainly active there. The perfection of performance reaches a level almost exclusively to the greatest of Munich realists, Wilhelm Leibl''
Jewess with Oranges was painted in Warsaw. The canvas shows an old Jewish woman holding two wicker baskets in her hands. In one of them colorful oranges are very visible. In the background of the canvas, the artist took a panorama of Skarpa Wiślana, shown behind a light fog from the side of Powiśle. A. Gierymski remarkably showed "the contrast between the richness of fruit colors and the whole range of beige, brown and gray clothing of the Jewish pauper''. The painting is also one of the most important Judaica in the history of Polish painting. During the period when the work was created, Warsaw Jews were an inseparable element of urban folklore and often became heroes of this kind of creativity
ALEKSANDER GIERYMSKI, c. 1880 - c. 1881 - Jewess with Oranges / oil on canvas, 65.0 x 54.0 cm
АЛЕКСАНДР ГЕРЫМСКИЙ - Еврейка с апельсинами
☆
Location: The National Museum in Warsaw, Poland.
Sources: cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/en/catalog/454885
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewess_with_Oranges
TEXT: LESZEK LUBICKI
During his stay in Warsaw, Alexander Gierymski often used motifs related to the city's life. He was fascinated by such districts as Powiśle, Solec and the Old Town. Thanks to this, we can now see a picture of the world that no longer exists, and has been preserved on Gierymski's canvases and drawings.
Jewish with Oranges as many as 440 days conservation of this painting took place after it was found in 2010, in a small auction house in Germany.
During World War II, it was plundered by the nazis in circumstances not explained to this day. Since the beginning of the war, Germany has stolen the most valuable exhibits from the museums of the conquered countries. However, they did not take this work, they did not consider it worthy of deportation. It was probably only after the Warsaw Uprising that it disappeared in the chaotic transport of works of art carried out by the occupier. The painting popularly called the Oranger thanks to the efforts of the Polish authorities, however, was not sold at auction in the said auction house. His owner explained that she had no idea that the canvas was looted by the nazis. After appropriate negotiations, the painting returned to its place in July 2011, i.e. to the National Museum in Warsaw. It was very damaged, a bit repainted, probably to hide its authenticity. From the end of 2012, after conservation, we can watch it in the 19th Century Art Gallery.
Aleksander Gierymski painted a Jewess with Oranges, painted in 1881. He was never entirely satisfied with his own work, but he assessed this painting as successful and one of his best. In the painter's correspondence we find the following statement: "A Jewess was perhaps the best picture (...). Plastic and colorful diablo. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but if I get back to painting seriously, only large or medium figures will remain for me - nothing from the landscape''.
There are many reasons why this canvas is considered a masterpiece. One of them is definitely "performance virtuosity''. Of course, painting from the realism circle should be a faithful mirror of the world, but the photographic accuracy of the image reaches the limits of hyperrealism, which was hardly seen in contemporary Polish painting. Despite being rooted in Warsaw realities, from the formal point of view the image must be included among the great works (characterized by a passion for hyperrealistic fidelity) of Munich realism. Which is natural considering the fact that Gierymski was educated and mainly active there. The perfection of performance reaches a level almost exclusively to the greatest of Munich realists, Wilhelm Leibl''
Jewess with Oranges was painted in Warsaw. The canvas shows an old Jewish woman holding two wicker baskets in her hands. In one of them colorful oranges are very visible. In the background of the canvas, the artist took a panorama of Skarpa Wiślana, shown behind a light fog from the side of Powiśle. A. Gierymski remarkably showed "the contrast between the richness of fruit colors and the whole range of beige, brown and gray clothing of the Jewish pauper''. The painting is also one of the most important Judaica in the history of Polish painting. During the period when the work was created, Warsaw Jews were an inseparable element of urban folklore and often became heroes of this kind of creativity