Description
Watercolor, paper; 31.3 x 22.5 cm
Signed p.d.: A.G. / Krakow
reproduced in:
Tygodnik Ilustrowany 1887 (Ipłr.) p. 89, Biesiada Literacka 1912 (I płr.) p. 441; 1914 (II płr.) p. 121
Expert opinion of Halina Stępień dated 25.04.1997
The offered study belongs to a group of works by Gierymski made on commission for editors of illustrated magazines. Very painterly, well-composed and decoratively resolved in color, it also brings out the psychological character of the type of country girl in parade folk costume of Cracow. The unadulterated freshness of the colors: the complexion of the face, the costume, the four strings of beads - perfectly reflects the artist's intention, and at the same time demonstrates his excellent skill as a painter - the freedom to build form, drawing detail - with a spot of paint.
Asking price 40000
Estimate 60000 - 80000
Aleksander GIERYMSKI
1850 Warsaw - 1901 Rome
Painter - younger brother of Maksymilian Gierymski. He began his education with Raphael Hadziewicz at the Warsaw Drawing Class, and from 1868 studied at the Munich Academy with H. Anchütz and C. Pilloty\, winning a prize for best composition (Scene from "The Merchant of Venice") at his graduation in 1872. From 1873 to 1879 he stayed in Rome, from where he briefly came to Warsaw in 1875, where his paintings were highly acclaimed. He settled in Warsaw for a longer period in 1879-1889, painting genre paintings (Feast of Trumpets, Orangerie) and making illustrations for the magazine Wędrowiec. In the following years, he often changed places of residence, staying for longer periods in Munich, Paris, Krakow and Rome. Aleksander Gierymski is one of the most outstanding Polish painters of the 19th century, independently shaping his own painting vision and, on the way of strenuous search, reaching from realism to results close to impressionism.
