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Fanfare (Musicians)

Stanislaw Lentz

Basic information

ID: Ж-932
Author: Stanislaw Lentz
Name: Fanfare (Musicians)
Date of creation: c.1910
Country: Poland
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 112 x 135.5

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: genre art narrative art
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery

Information about author

Author: Stanislaw Lentz
Artist's lifetime: 1861–1920
Country: Poland
Biography: Stanislaw Lentz (23 April 1861, Warsaw – 19 October 1920, Warsaw) was a Polish painter, portraitist, illustrator, professor, and director of the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (1909–1920). He was a member of the "Sztuka" Society and the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow (1877–1879) and continued his schooling in Wojciech Gerson's drawing class in Warsaw. He further enhanced his education at the Munich Academy and the Academie Julian in Paris (1884–1887). He collaborated with Warsaw magazines such as "Kłosy", "Tygodnik Ilustrowany", and "Kurier Codzienny", where his caricatures and satirical drawings depicting everyday episodes from the lives of Warsaw residents were published. From 1896 to 1914, the artist travelled extensively, visiting Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Normandy, and the Netherlands. In 1909, Stanislaw Lentz was appointed professor and simultaneously became the director of the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The artist's works were exhibited almost annually in exhibitions in Poland and abroad (Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Paris, Saint Petersburg, London, Antwerp, and Venice). In 1894, the artist received a silver medal at the Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Lviv for his portrait of Adolf Swiecicki. The name of Stanislaw Lentz is primarily associated with realistic portrait painting in Polish art history. The artist reproduced the details of women's gowns and the textures of fabrics academically. The Munich School influenced the artist's early works. Proletarian and Jewish themes predominate in his genre scenes. From 1915 onwards, the master became fascinated with Dutch painting, particularly the works of Frans Hals. In the works from this period, Lentz moved away from the monochromatic grey-black palette in favour of contrasting shades of pink, blue, yellow, and green.

Object description

Portraits played a significant role in the artist's work, primarily representing individuals in genre scenes. The artist often depicted scenes from ordinary people's everyday lives, capturing their facial expressions in comical situations. Such depictions include the work "Fanfare", which portrays a group of three musicians passionately playing their instruments. The most prominent figure in this composition appears to be the drummer, who occupies a large portion of the scene and strikes the drum with a satisfied expression. The main characters of the painting, who play their fanfares with closed eyes (a type of small trumpet used for performing ceremonial compositions), are positioned in the background. The comical expressions on the musicians' faces and stances create the impression that each is playing their own melody, independent of the others. This lends a humorous character to the scene. The composition is concise and well-thought-out, with no unnecessary details and a clear rhythm. The colours are almost monochromatic. The artist uses shades of black and brown to model the figures and instruments, while the dark background emphasises the faces of the characters.

Inscriptions

In the bottom right, the artist's signature: "St. Lentz".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Fanfare (Musicians)

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