Still Life 16/48

Janusz Kaczmarski

  • type of object: painting
  • date: 1976
  • material/technique: oil on canvas
  • dimensions: 73 x 73 cm
  • inventory No.: M-147
  • image licensed under: CC BY-SA

This monochromatic composition is immersed in cool light. The main motif of the still life, a plaster head of Vladimir Lenin, was placed on a newspaper and a book. The counterpoint to the sculpture is offered by a lightbulb casting an uneven light over the entire composition. This juxtaposition of objects may, on the one hand, be associated with the traditional academic method of teaching art by painting ‘studies from nature’, including plaster sculptures, which the artist certainly encountered during his painting studies at the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts in the early 1950s. On the other hand, hidden symbolism can be found in the painting. Lenin, treated objectively, has closed, dead eyes, associated with blindness and thus lost wandering, in contact with the source of the strong light of the bulb (knowledge, truth, enlightenment).



Michał Jachuła



translated by Paulina Bożek


Image published as part of the Operational Programme Digital Poland: Open Zachęta financed by European Funds

Other works by artist in the Zachęta collection

  • Zdjęcie pracy Untitled
    UntitledJanusz Kaczmarski1967
  • Zdjęcie pracy Curtain
    CurtainJanusz Kaczmarski1973
  • Zdjęcie pracy Interior X
    Interior XJanusz Kaczmarski1973
  • Zdjęcie pracy Still Life with Vatnik and Helmet
    Still Life with Vatnik and HelmetJanusz Kaczmarski1975
  • Zdjęcie pracy Interior with Workman’s Jacket and Helmet
    Interior with Workman’s Jacket and HelmetJanusz Kaczmarski1975
  • Zdjęcie pracy Contemporary Gear
    Contemporary GearJanusz Kaczmarski1975
  • Zdjęcie pracy Still Life 8/76
    Still Life 8/76Janusz Kaczmarski1976
  • Zdjęcie pracy Painting with a Black Apple
    Painting with a Black AppleJanusz Kaczmarski1977
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Janusz Kaczmarski1977
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Janusz Kaczmarski1978
  • Zdjęcie pracy
    Janusz Kaczmarski1978
  • Zdjęcie pracy Interior with Open Door
    Interior with Open DoorJanusz Kaczmarski1978
  • Zdjęcie pracy The Red Armchair
    The Red ArmchairJanusz Kaczmarski1978

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