Searching for Arcadia

20.05-07.08.2016 Searching for Arcadia

An exhibition of paintings by Henryk Siemiradzki from the collection of the Lviv National Art Gallery named after B. G. Voznytskyi

The Gallery of 19th-century Polish Art in the Sukiennice is hosting, in the Malarnia Room, an exhibition of twelve paintings by Henryk Siemiradzki from the collection of the Lviv National Art Gallery named after B.G. Voznytskyi, that is almost the whole Lviv collection of works by this Polish painter.

The exhibition, organised thanks to the kindliness of the museum team from Lviv, presents an intimate, lyrical current in Siemiradzki’s painting, as important for a picture of his oeuvre as his famous monumental canvases. What prevails in this current are pastoral compositions – idylls.

Already as a student of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts (1864–1870), during his holidays in Kharkiv, the artist created charming, plein-air compositions, idyllic in mood, conveying the local colours, such as the nocturne, fairytale-like Eve of Ivan Kupala (1867) and Country Idyll (1864–1870) – a genre scene from the Ukrainian countryside, painted freely, in bright sunlight.

In terms of idea, they seem to herald ancient idylls, so typical of the painting of Siemiradzki, who settled in Rome in 1872. These scenes from the "daily life" of ancient Greeks and Romans are usually set in the landscape of Campania, associated by the artist with Arcadia. They depict light, sometimes poetical episodes – as in the painting Following the Example of Gods (1899) or the scene By a Spring (1898), with the echoes of Symbolism. In the background of the anecdote shown here the painter depicted, as in most of his ancient idylls, a landscape, filled with the light of the sun, rendered with great sensitivity to colour. A southern, bright landscape is a central theme in the composition entitled Rest (1896).

The artist set a scene from the Gospel According to John – a meeting between Christ and a woman from Samaria – also in a totally idyllic scenery (Christ and the Samaritan Woman, 1890).

The above group of works also includes portrait studies of ancient women, sketches painted with virtuosity and an excellent study for the curtain of the City Theatre in Krakow Amor and Psyche (ca 1894).

Curator – Beata Studziżba-Kubalska
Coordinator – Katarzyna Pawłowska
Graphic designs and exhibition layout – Magdalena Bujak

Autor: Beata Studziżba-Kubalska

Keywords:

Searching for Arcadia, Henryk Siemiradzki, the Lviv National Art Gallery named after B.G. Voznytskyi

MNK The Sukiennice

Rynek Główny 3

mon: closed
Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00 - 18.00

Henryk Siemiradzki, Rest
1896, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, Amor and Psyche
about 1894, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, By a Spring
1898, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, Christ and the Samaritan Woman
1890, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, A Gypsy (A Greek Woman)
1877, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, A Greek Woman
1900, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, Eve of Ivan Kupala (Midsummer Eve)
1867, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, Orpheus in the Underworld
1860s (?), oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, By a Pool
1890, oil on board

Henryk Siemiradzki, Country Idyll
late 1860, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, Following the Example of the Gods
1899, oil on canvas

Henryk Siemiradzki, A Beggar
sketch for a painting 'The Begging Castaway', 1878
oil on canvas

pre

Director of the NMK Andrzej Betlej
/ photo by Karol Kowalik - Photography Studio, NMK

Opening of the exhibition titled Searching for Arcadia

/ photo by Karol Kowalik - Photography Studio, NMK

Beata Studziżba-Kubalska - curator of the exhibition
/ photo by Karol Kowalik - Photography Studio, NMK

/ photo by Karol Kowalik - Photography Studio, NMK

pre

Searching for Arcadia

Opening of the exhibition titled Searching for Arcadia

In our blog

7 reasons why the exhibition of Siemiradzki’s works is worth a visit

Until 7 August, visitors to the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in the Sukiennice have an opportunity to see an exhibition titled ‘Searching for Arkadia’. Here are a few examples why it’s a #mustsee!

Searching for Arcadia

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7 reasons why the exhibition of Siemiradzki’s works is worth a visit

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Searching for Arcadia

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In our blog

7 reasons why the exhibition of Siemiradzki’s works is worth a visit

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