Back

Bavarian Townswoman

Stanislaw Grocholski

Basic information

ID: Ж-918
Author: Stanislaw Grocholski
Name: Bavarian Townswoman
Date of creation: c.1882
Country: Germany
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 56 x 46.7

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery

Information about author

Author: Stanislaw Grocholski
Artist's lifetime: 1858–1932
Country: Poland, the USA
Biography: Stanislaw Grocholski (June 6, 1858, Zolynia, Poland – February 26, 1932, Buffalo, USA) was a Polish painter, graphic artist, and illustrator. From 1877 to 1880, he studied at the Krakow School of Fine Arts (with instructors Wladyslaw Luszczkiewicz and Jan Matejko) and later at the Vienna and Munich Academies of Fine Arts. S. Grocholski lived in Munich for over 20 years. The artist's paintings were in demand and often purchased for private and public collections. He participated in art exhibitions in Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Lviv, Krakow, and Warsaw. He collaborated with the magazines "Gardenlaube" and "Moderne". In 1891, S. Grocholski opened his school of painting and graphics in Munich, where many Germans and Poles studied. In 1901, the artist moved to the USA, where he decorated several Polish churches with polychrome. At that time, reproductions of his works were published in Poland in the magazines "Kłosy" and "Tygodnik Ilustrowany". S. Grocholski was a representative of realism in Polish painting. He authored portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings on Hutsul and Jewish themes. He was one of the first artists to become interested in the motif of the Hutsul village, mainly painting interiors of cottages and scenes of wedding ceremonies, festivals, and folk celebrations.

Object description

The work is an intimate bust-length portrait of an older woman in a black headscarf, executed in a realistic style. Judging by the title of the painting, the portrayed woman is a resident of one of the Bavaria (Germany) towns, and her clothing indicates her belonging to a less affluent social class. The woman is depicted in a slight leftward profile. She wears a simple black blouse (or dress) with a V-neckline. A long black headscarf covers half of her forehead and falls onto her right shoulder at one end. She has no jewellery or bright colours. The artist uses a neutral dark background to focus the viewer's attention on the model's face, rendered in detail and with a "sculptural" quality. The sharp contrast of darkness and light helps convey the full range of the woman's emotions. Exhausted by hard work or emotional pain, she looks wearily straight ahead. Grief and despair are reflected in her colourless, sunken eyes. The downturned corners of her lips indicate deep feelings and the endless worries of daily life.

Inscriptions

In the bottom right, there is the artist's signature: "Stan. Groch". On the back, there is an inscription: "Dar M. Toepfera".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery