Author: Teodor Axentowicz
Title: Gromniczna - Hutsuls on their way to the celebration
Technique: oil, cardboard
Dimensions: 40.2 x 49.3 cm
Dimensions with frame: 53.5 x 62.5 cm
Signed l.d.: "T. Axentowicz"
Provenance:
- Purchase in Desa in the 1960s,
- private collection.
Work description:
The subject of the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Thunder has repeatedly recurred in the works of the folklore-inspired (mainly Hutsul) Teodor Axentowicz. The artist portrayed various moments of this winter day, but most often he depicted the faithful singly or in small groups just arriving for the service - that is, carrying a still unlit saint. Less often, he painted the rituals themselves or people returning home with a lit candlestick.
Usually the lone heroine of such depictions is a young girl in Hutsul garb, holding a candle in her hand, followed by shots with a girl and an old man. In more elaborate compositions (such as the one offered at the Krakow Auction House auction), showing the main characters in full figure or more or less up to the knee line, the artist enriched the background of the paintings with sketchy silhouettes of further figures and an outline of Hutsul villages.
Having in mind the repetitive nature of the subject in the paintings of Teodor Axentowicz, it is worth noting the multiplicity and variety of shots and the artist's mastery in rendering the truth, but also in building composition, rhythm and color harmony. In the offered painting, the weight of the composition is concentrated on the left side, although one of the main figures is depicted centrally. Both this weight and the dominance of warm browns in the clothing of the portrayed girl and the old man are broken by a light, monochromatic outline of the figure in the distance, in the upper right corner of the picture field. The strong accent of the red scarf on the child's head was balanced again by the orangish hut visible in the background. Thanks to the peculiar blurring of contours and the laser-painted gray-blue expanses of snow with only local impastos of white, the whole picture appears harmonious and natural, inhibits sharp color contrasts and situates the figures in a real landscape rather than in an abstract space of white. All these elements contribute to the mastery of the whole composition.
Since Teodor Axentowicz took a liking to depictions of two winter holidays - Jordan and the above-discussed Our Lady of Thunder - in his Hutsul-themed works, it is not always easy to distinguish between them in the master's paintings. However, it seems that when the attributes of the depicted figures are both a candle and a jug, we are dealing with a painting of the feast of Jordan, while the candle itself, as in the case of the oil work presented here, is more indicative of the Virgin of Thunder.
The biography of Teodor Axentowicz is available on the Krakow Auction House website [SEE].
If you would like to sell paintings by Teodor Axentowicz, please contact us [LINK].
