Description:
Jack Malczewski (1854-1929) had a love for art and romantic literature, especially the poetry of Juliusz Słowacki, which he brought from his family home. He came from a noble but not wealthy family. His father Julian supported him on his path to a career in painting. The events of 1863, the January Uprising and subsequent repression, had a special impact on the young artist. His first teacher was Adolf Dygasiński. He spent his youth from 1867 to 1871 in the manor of his aunt and uncle Karczewski in Wielgie. In 1873 he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow under the tutelage of Jan Matejko. He was a pupil of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz. He also studied at the École des Beaux–Arts in Paris. He traveled to Italy, Vienna, Munich, Greece, and Asia Minor. From 1896 to 1900 and 1910 to 1914 he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. From 1912 to 1914 he was its rector. He began with an idealizing realism, then naturalism. The main theme of his works during this period was the fate of the exiles to Siberia and the inspiration of Juliusz Słowacki‘s “Anhellim“. At the same time, fantastic and allegorical views began to appear in Malczewski‘s works. After the death of his father in 1884, the recurring theme in Malczewski‘s work was Thanatos – the god of death. After 1890 his art became completely symbolic. Works manifesting a turn towards the style of symbolism are: “Introduction“ from 1890, “Melancholy“ from 1890–1894, and “Vicious Circle“ from 1895–1897. The artist addressed existential, historical, and artist–related topics, weaving together ancient and biblical motifs with native folklore and the typically Polish landscape in his works. His recognizable features are form, color, monumentality of representations, and their expressiveness.
Description of the painting:
Left part:
Too Late Two figures seen in profile, a young woman and an older man, observe the snail held in her hands. The girl is wearing a blue blouse and a brown vest. Her hair is tied up high, revealing her bare neck. Her exposed shoulders and full lips emphasize the sensuality of the body depicted by the artist. Her somewhat mirrored reflection is a slightly hunched figure of a man with silver hair, dressed in a dark brown coat with a lapel. In his right hand he holds a wooden handle. The rosiness and curiosity of the girl‘s youth contrasts with the wrinkled, exhausted face of the man. In the background is a view of a floodplain, with lush vegetation and shimmering mirrors of water in the light of the setting sun.
The only link between the figures presented by the painter, which seems to divide everything, becomes a small snail, hidden in its shell. Due to the way it moves, this creature is a symbol of perseverance, but also of slowness. Moreover, the outline of the snail‘s shell in the form of spiral circles refers to the ancient, antique symbol of constantly reborn life. Furthermore, the incredible instinct of the individual, heading for survival in case of increasing unfavorable environmental conditions, orders it to safely shelter in its shell and wait it out. Christian faith attributes a symbolic dimension to this tendency. It compares the creature to the body of Christ, laid in the grave, which rose again at the right time. In medieval painting, the figure of the resurrected Lazarus was depicted as coming out of his snail‘s shell. Illuminated codices with this image, usually accompanied by a knight armed with a sword, represented one of the sins – “sluggishness“, “impotence“. In the 17th century, an empty snail shell was a symbol of vanity and laziness.
The choice of a snail as the protagonist of the performance becomes clearer in the context of the theme of the entire triptych. The right part presents two young people. A woman holds a cricket in her hand – a sign of immortality, a man holds a shield with a Polish eagle, a symbol of the old courage. In the background, the outlines of an Orthodox church are outlined. In the central part of the triptych, the artist placed a violinist covered with a Siberian cloak, accompanied by a young woman. The exile is immersed in contemplation. Little of the old hardness remained. Given the year of the work‘s creation in 1905, the revolutionary turmoil beginning in Russia was to rekindle the Poles‘ aspirations for independence. However, the spreading dangerous sluggishness, feeling of helplessness, hiding in a shell and attitude of passive resistance only increased the fear that after years of hardship and struggle it may already be “Too late“ to revive hope and fight for the long–awaited resurrection.
Middle part:
The Fiddler 1900 becomes a key year in the artistic development of the painter, also due to the form of representation he was fond of. From this point onwards, Jack Malczewski‘s works are characterized by triptychs. The compositional layer of his representations also undergoes a significant change. Instead of the crowd of real beings and the accompanying bacchic or fantastic creatures featured in his earlier works, the artist usually gives the picture space to two characters – a woman and a man. The object or attribute held by them completes the symbolism of the representation. The usual Polish landscape is usually featured in the background*.
Once again, the painter captured the figure of Wójcicki from Zwierzyniec. Again, a young woman accompanies the man. The couple known from “My Song“ or “Skovronka“. This time, however, the characters were not placed side by side as equal. The foreground belongs to the man in his old age, with gray hair, dressed in a Siberian szynel. His gaze cast down, wandering far beyond the frame of the presentation. He holds a violin in his hands. Only a fragment of the bow with a snail and the upper part of the bowstring are visible. The man becomes an allegorical representation of the artist in general. The creator, a virtuoso sensitive to the beauty of the world, both external and spiritual. Behind the silhouette of the man, a girl hides. Her head covered with a striped headscarf. With her right hand she firmly closes the edges of the fabric, protecting herself from the increasing cold. Autumn has come. The background landscape shows autumn leaves, colorful trees and whitening fields perhaps the first snow.
From the former hardness of men, little remains. Given the year of the work‘s creation in 1905, the revolutionary turmoil beginning in Russia was to reawaken the Polish aspirations for independence. However, the widespread lethargy, sense of helplessness, and attitude of waiting it out, intensified the anxiety that after years of suffering and hardship, it may be “too late” to revive hope and fight for the long–awaited resurrection.
Despite the fears, the still–hopeful and bright blue sky pierced by streaks of cloud is juxtaposed against the slowly fading life of nature. Against this backdrop, the head of the man–artist adorned with tousled silver hair takes on a new meaning. The blue of the sky is echoed in the colour of his eyes, and the billowing clouds in the wisps of his graying hair. As if time, which had irrevocably swallowed the last chords of music coming from his instrument, had not robbed the musician of all hope. Its last echoes move both the mature man and the woman just beginning her life to contemplation. Like a testament of faith and duty left to the next generations, that will survive the stagnation of time, in order to try once more, in harmony with the rhythm of the rebirth of life, to achieve fulfillment.Despite the fears, the still–hopeful and bright blue sky pierced by streaks of cloud is juxtaposed against the slowly fading life of nature. Against this backdrop, the head of the man–artist adorned with tousled silver hair takes on a new meaning. The blue of the sky is echoed in the colour of his eyes, and the billowing clouds in the wisps of his graying hair. As if time, which had irrevocably swallowed the last chords of music coming from his instrument, had not robbed the musician of all hope. Its last echoes move both the mature man and the woman just beginning her life to contemplation. Like a testament of faith and duty left to the next generations, that will survive the stagnation of time, in order to try once more, in harmony with the rhythm of the rebirth of life, to achieve fulfillment.
Part of the painting:
Woman with the Cricket/ Polska and Rus The triptych “Too Early“ quickly fell apart and was rarely presented in gallery spaces as a whole. Individual parts of it were borrowed and treated as separate performances. The holistic view of the three paintings by Jac–k Malczewski gives them a timeless patriotic dimension. They become the voice of a concerned artist in the discussion of the fate of the once enslaved Fatherland. The right part of the triptych is evidently marked by the events that took place in Russia in 1905. The artist depicts two figures – a young man and a young woman. The composition does not include the presence of the exile at the turn of the century, which appears on the remaining parts of the triptych. In this view, his reflection has not yet come.
In the part titled “The Girl with the Cricket“ the most beautiful stage of life of a human being was captured, the time of youth, love, growing fascination and unrestricted desire to fulfil one‘s wishes. Accompanying it are the background scenes: landscapes of meadows greening with golden ears of corn and an endless fertile and fruitful land covered with blooming buds.
In the foreground is a young woman. She wears a red scarf over her golden coat. A cricket is perched on her right hand, while with her left she seems to protect the insect that has captured her full attention. A ring is visible on her finger.