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Slaves (Love Slaves)

Janina Reichert-Toth

Basic information

ID: С-I-74
Author: Janina Reichert-Toth
Name: Slaves (Love Slaves)
Date of creation: 1920s
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Culture: Eastern Europe
Technique: modeling
Material: plaster
Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm): 48 x 46 x 42

Additionally

Type: sculpture 3D
Genre: narrative art
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery, purchased from TSPP, 1930
Exposition: Lozinski Palace

Information about author

Author: Janina Reichert-Toth
Artist's lifetime: 1895–1985
Country: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Biography: Janina Reichert-Toth (22 June 1895, Staryi Sambir – 7 March 1986, Krakow) was a Polish sculptor who worked in Lviv and Krakow. She was born in Staryi Sambir as the daughter of Jozef Reichert, a court advisor in Lviv, and Antonina Kilarska. In 1907, she moved with her parents to Lviv, where she lived at 25 Kurkova Street (now Lysenko Street), in a house that belonged to her maternal grandfather, the famous Lviv ophthalmologist Jozef Kilarski. She attended the private gymnasium named after J. Slowacki. During the First World War, the family lived in Brno. From 1915 to 1918, she studied at the Lviv School of Art and Industry, Department of Decorative Sculpture. From 1919 to 1921, she studied at the Krakow Academy of Arts under the famous Polish painter, sculptor, and graphic artist Konstanty Laszczka. In Lviv, she worked in the sculpture studio of Ludwik Tyrowicz, a local businessman and sculptor of Armenian origin. Later, she opened her own studio in the family house at 25 Kurkova Street. In 1930, the city provided her with premises on the first floor of the Biesiadecki Palace at 10 Halytska Square. She taught drawing at the Women's Gymnasium of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. She also worked at the State Women's Vocational School and at the Higher School of Home Economics for Women in Snopkiv. Alongside her teaching, she devoted herself to her creative work. In December 1935, she married Fryderyk Toth, a sculptor. After the marriage, she moved her studio to a new villa at 4 Odrowążów Street (now Litnia Street). In June 1919, she debuted at the II Exhibition of the Association of Polish Women Artists. J. Reichert-Toth received recognition at the Society of Friends of Art exhibition in the Industrial Museum in Lviv (1927), where the artist exhibited 22 works. In 1924–1939, in collaboration with the architect Witold Minkiewicz, she created a number of sculptures for sacred buildings in Lviv, including the churches of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Elizabeth in Lviv. In 1940, she worked at the Lviv Ceramics and Sculpture Factory. In 1941, she moved to Tomaszow Lubelski and, in 1946, to Krakow. J. Reichert-Toth's works from the 1920s show the influence of A. Bourdelle, medieval sculpture, and Renaissance sculpture. In a number of works, the Cubist inspiration of C. Brâncuși, J. Lipchitz and P. Picasso can be seen. Some sculptures are characterised by the integration of Art Deco forms. She developed her own style, characterised by tectonics, constructivism, and a clear rhythm. She worked in the fields of monumental, monumental-decorative, and easel sculpture.

Object description

Sculptural composition depicting two heads. On the left is the head of a young man, tilted backwards and pressed against the woman's head, which, in turn, is also tilted backwards and pressed against the man's neck. The eyes of both characters are closed. The composition is striking in its psychology: the seemingly emotionless, drama-stricken figures – their heads are tensely drawn towards each other, emphasised by the neck muscles stretched like a string.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Slaves (Love Slaves)

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