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Capital

Stanislaw Debicki

Basic information

ID: Ж-2800
Author: Stanislaw Debicki
Name: Capital
Date of creation: c.1920–1922
Country: Poland
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 189 x 106.7

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: symbolic art
Plot: Allegory
Provenance: Unknown origin

Information about author

Author: Stanislaw Debicki
Artist's lifetime: 1866–1924
Country: Poland
Biography: Stanislaw-Mieczyslaw Debicki (December 4, 1866, Lubaczow – August 12, 1924, Krakow) was a Polish and Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, illustrator, and educator. He studied at the academies in Vienna, Krakow, and Munich, as well as at the Academie Colarossi in Paris. After returning to his homeland, he initially lived in Lviv and then in Krakow, where he headed the Department of Decorative Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. From 1911 to 1914, he lectured at the School of Fine Arts for Women, founded by M. Niedzielski. He was a member of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka", the Vienna Secession, the "Group of Six", and the Union of Artists in Lviv. Debicki was the author of portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and compositions depicting everyday life, historical and religious themes, and genre scenes from the lives of Hutsuls and Galician Jews. He also worked in book graphics, scenography, and sculpture. Among his notable works are the exhibition posters for Arnold Bocklin and Jacek Malczewski in Lviv (1903). He created monumental murals as well. He participated in art exhibitions in Lviv starting in 1885. A posthumous solo exhibition was held in 1928. The artist's works are preserved in museums in Ukraine and Poland.

Object description

Known primarily for his fascination with Hutsul culture and the life of small Galician towns, Stanislaw Debicki was also interested in symbolism for a time. The vertical multi-figure composition "Capital" has an allegorical-symbolic character. At the centre, a semi-naked man with a face resembling a mascaron embodies Capital. Above him, dominating the scene is a profile depiction of Jesus Christ in a crimson cloak and a crown of thorns. He places a huge golden crown on the man's head with his hands bound, from which the Lord's wounds are bleeding. The sketched male and female figures surrounding Capital in various poses create an impression of dynamic movement. The composition is presented in a narrow range of warm shades of brown and black.

Inscriptions

At the bottom right, the author's signature: "StDębicki".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Capital

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