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Jan Matejko's oval palette Jan Matejko's palette is one of eight preserved in the collection of National Museum in Kraków. Is exhibited in the artist's studio in The Matejko House. Oval, made of walnut, with two metal utensils. On the surface of the pallet are visible, dried-on paint used by the artist in a wide range of colors. |
Painting “Jupiter, Mercury and Virtue (Aurora?)” by Dosso Dossi The artist took the theme from the dialogue of the gods, placed in Virtus, a work of Leon Battista Alberti. Virtue wants to complain about Fortune and the plight of the humans, but Jupiter does not listen to her, as he does not want to enter into a dispute with Fortune. The painting, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and interesting paintings, also in terms of iconography, was painted for Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. |
Marcin Maciejowski, “Elżbieta Jaworowicz Trouble-Shooting” The artist plays the image off against the text. He juxtaposes images of people with information about their job and the situational context. By these means he creates multidimensional portraits of well-known media individuals. |
Marcin Maciejowski, “Krzysztof Rutkowski Tracks Villains” The artist plays the image off against the text. He juxtaposes images of people with information about their job and the situational context. By these means he creates multidimensional portraits of well-known media individuals. |
Muntean/Rosenblum, untitled [“They realized that their capacity…”] [They realized that their capacity for not feeling lonely carried very real price, which was the threat of feeling nothing at all.] Four young people appear to be taking drugs in a forest. This suspicion is at odds with the ambiance of the attractive forest and sunlight filtered through the trees. An integral part of the painting is a poetic declaration which implies a risky experiment. It entails a statement of the absence of loneliness. However, the painted protagonists appear to be entirely lonely; they do not even notice their own presence. If so, they only have themselves to thank for their lack of loneliness. |
Ogawa Shinji, “View of Delft (“Behind You” series)” Ogawa using the classic medium reproduces the work of the Dutch master Jan Vermeer's View of Delft. Realistic, 17th-century image shows a fragment of the city along the waterfront of the river Schie. |
Tomasz Ciecierski, “Painter’s Palette” A witty and ironic treatment of the colour-cum-symbol means available to painting. The artist plays with the shapes of splashes of colour, approaching colour in a free-flowing style. Sometimes, such splashes mean no more than the colour itself; at other times, they stand for an art trend or an object. Through such a ”naive” colour game, one discovers the rich and diverse idiom of painting. |
Painting “Portrait of Łukasz Węgliński” The painting is a small, intimate image which belongs in a collection of the most exquisite portraits displaying an excellent characterisation of a Polish nobleman. The tawny face of the man endowed with great temperament, with a distinct nose and shiny lively eyes, reveals his high intelligence. The creator of this portrait was an anonymous artist, exactly as in the case of most “Sarmatian portraits.” |
Pola Dwurnik, “Mercy!” Twenty four colour self-portraits stand out from the crowd sketched in the background; each face plays out the spectacle of a different personality. |
Edward Dwurnik, “Hunting a Dangerous Villain” The painting was a response to Martial Law in Poland. It shows an imaginary city, which – as is the case with the majority of Dwurnik’s paintings – we view from above. At first glance, everything seems tranquil, stable and safe. Only a searching examination reveals the drama of a city taken over by the army. |
Csaba Nemes, “Far from the Sea” Józsefváros, the Budapest district no. 8 still carries the marks of having been bombed during World War II and the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. The buildings which are no longer there are conspicuous for their absence. For Nemes, these void spaces are more authentic than the buildings which are there, because their appearance has not changed in half a century. The levitating residents are a metaphor for all his compatriots – distrustful, introverted, alienated. |
Gypsy wagon In the extensive exhibition devoted to the history and culture of the Romani/Gypsies, the exhibits particularly attracting the attention of visitors are the colourful wagons presented in the courtyard of the Ethnographic Museum. Preserved in the Polish landscape in the 1st half of the 20th century as well as in Polish pop culture thanks to the song by Maryla Rodowicz, they make an interesting memento of the vagabond, truly “Gypsy life”. |
Escutcheon of Gorlice city This consists of an oval shield, which decorated the entrance to the municipal council of Gorlice from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The shield has numerous bullet holes, being clear evidence of the battles which took place in the city and its surroundings for six months, at the turn of 1914 and 1915. |
Painting “Self-portrait” by Jan Matejko Matejko was the author of several pictorial self-portraits, created at various periods of his artistic career. This self-portrait, the only one in the shape of a tondo, was painted for Helena, the daughter of the painter, and was given to her by the artist for her twentieth birthday, on 6 April 1887. On the bottom right of the picture, the following dedication appears: 6 | 4 | AD | 1887 | (for) HELI (from) father Jan. |
Jadwiga Sawicka, “IMPIOUS / infamous” From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. |
Jadwiga Sawicka, “ETHNICALLY PURE / national” From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. The choice of words has been thought of carefully. They are all related to current ideological and patriotic discussions. |
Jadwiga Sawicka, “Ojczysty / Macierzysta” From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. |
Jadwiga Sawicka, “NATIONAL / exclusive” From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. |
Jadwiga Sawicka, “MADE IN POLAND / foreign” From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. The choice of words has been thought of carefully. They are all related to current ideological and patriotic discussions. |
Jadwiga Sawicka, “HONOURABLE / disloyal” From the mass of thickly laid off paint, there emerge words taken out of context and deliberately crooked. The clash between the background and the semantic content enhances the impact. The choice of words has been thought of carefully. They are all related to current ideological and patriotic discussions. Gender play is an additional device to manipulate meanings. The same adjective has different connotations depending on whether it is feminine or masculine. |