Author: Witold Pałka
Title: Silesian Woman (1994)
Technique: oil, canvas
Dimensions: 70 x 45,5 cm
Dimensions with frame: 79 x 55 cm
Signed and dated above: "Palka W | 94".
On the back the artist's label.
The painting was exhibited at a solo exhibition of paintings by Witold Palka presented in 2018 at the Museum of the History of Katowice and is reproduced in the catalog of this exhibition [E. Krzeszowska, Witold Palka. Painting, Museum of the History of Katowice, Katowice 2018, item 22.].
Work description:
One of the motifs that Witold Palka explored in his paintings was his native Silesia - its landscapes, daily life, inhabitants and miners' work.
The featured painting is a peculiar sum of several elements - Witold Palka's distinctive style, the combination of his characteristic themes of portraiture and Silesia, and finally the influence of folklore and folk art, which runs through the painter's work.
The work depicts a half-figured image of a woman with a black headscarf on her head, wearing dark clothing enlivened by a patterned bedspread in shades of red and orange. The elongated facial features of the Silesian woman are not individualized, so the composition is a general representation of a Silesian woman, most likely a miner's wife and mother. Expression and power of expression - in addition to the aforementioned bedspread - is added to the work by the rhythmic, abstract background, pulsating with red.
It is worth mentioning that in a similar convention the artist has also depicted other ethnic groups in his work (see, for example, the painting "Lemkos" from 1969), but also the Virgin Mary in works of religious themes. This fact gives the presented work "Silesian Woman" an even deeper possibility of interpretation, and provides an example of how the artist himself saw woman - the everyday, simple, sincere one, and how these representations differ from the images of costumed ladies in the numerous ball and banquet motifs in Witold Palka's works.
Witold Palka's biography is available on the Krakow Auction House website [SEE].
If you would like to sell Witold Palka's paintings, please contact us [LINK].
