material: oil on board
dimensions: 38x46,5
author's label: Signed and dated upper right: JMalczewski 1903
description: This profile portrait of Feliks ‘Manggha’ Jasieński (1861–1929), a celebrated art collector and critic, shows him with an early spring landscape in the background and a straw child holding a lark. It is a heavily symbolic work with an ambiguous and complex message. Dressed in a vest typical for Polish highlanders, Jasieński holding a paper knife in his hand cuts a rope tying the straw-wrapped small girl, her eyes wide open and a bird huddling from the cold in her hand. This is a symbolic gesture of setting the sheaf’s delicate and puzzling contents free from the grip of winter. A direct allusion to Stanisław Wyspiański’s drama The Wedding Party, the straw child has been interpreted by some to be a symbol of the world of dreams hidden deep inside human mind. Others associated the mysterious figure with the young, budding Polish art, of which Manggha was an avid supporter and promoter. A bird has traditionally had a myriad of meanings in art. Here it may be a symbol of a “rising power” that brings nature back to life. Perhaps this metaphor also refers to the inspiring role of this art connoisseur? The background with straw coverings twisted and distorted by the wind and frost may be interpreted as a metonymy of a sombre “inner landscape”, or a philosophical representation of Jasieński as a lone wolf. Wacława Milewska
exposition: The Gallery of 20th Century Polish Art,
The Main Building, 1, 3 Maja Av.
see also articles >>>
dimensions: 38x46,5
author's label: Signed and dated upper right: JMalczewski 1903
description: This profile portrait of Feliks ‘Manggha’ Jasieński (1861–1929), a celebrated art collector and critic, shows him with an early spring landscape in the background and a straw child holding a lark. It is a heavily symbolic work with an ambiguous and complex message. Dressed in a vest typical for Polish highlanders, Jasieński holding a paper knife in his hand cuts a rope tying the straw-wrapped small girl, her eyes wide open and a bird huddling from the cold in her hand. This is a symbolic gesture of setting the sheaf’s delicate and puzzling contents free from the grip of winter. A direct allusion to Stanisław Wyspiański’s drama The Wedding Party, the straw child has been interpreted by some to be a symbol of the world of dreams hidden deep inside human mind. Others associated the mysterious figure with the young, budding Polish art, of which Manggha was an avid supporter and promoter. A bird has traditionally had a myriad of meanings in art. Here it may be a symbol of a “rising power” that brings nature back to life. Perhaps this metaphor also refers to the inspiring role of this art connoisseur? The background with straw coverings twisted and distorted by the wind and frost may be interpreted as a metonymy of a sombre “inner landscape”, or a philosophical representation of Jasieński as a lone wolf. Wacława Milewska
exposition: The Gallery of 20th Century Polish Art,
The Main Building, 1, 3 Maja Av.
see also articles >>>