DOI Artikel:
Danielewicz, Iwona: The Collection of Gabriela Zapolska
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18947#0136
artist’s works: Woman Sewing (1892) and The Madwoman from Plouganon
(1895). 75 The fate of the rest of the works by this great artist is unknown.
I have recovered information that during the war and several years afterward
many of the artist’s works were for sale. They certainly must have come from
Zapolska’s former collection.
She met Serusier during vacation spent in Huelgóat, a smali town in
Brittany located in the depths of the peninsula. Through the intermediary of
Antoine she very ąuickly cultivated friendships with the colony of artists there.
The time spent in Brittany contributed to her deepening interest in symbolism
and influenced the radicalisation of her social views. In the course of a stay
of several months, she wrote and sent to Przegląd Tygodniowy two large
mteresting and superbly written articles about the life, customs, and religious
mysticism in Brittany.76 Serusier lived in Huelgóat in 1892-1894 and the
majority of the works that Zapolska gathered in her collection datę from this
period. A few of them originated in the beginmng of 1895, but they still bear
the influence of the years spent in a harsh climate among poor country people.
The painter had decided to move to the heart of the peninsula, seeking a new
place to work and different sources of inspiration than the surroundings of
Pont Aven, already very famous then and attracting crowds of artists and
tourists. In choosing a wilder region, covered with large rocks and thick
woods, he wanted to find a different local tradition, especially sińce the region
was famous for its lovely legends. Serusier was not interested in Brittany’s
religious hohdays or their rituals and processions. He was looking for less
widely known folklore. The majority of works dating from this period relate
either to Brittany’s legends, such as the paintings The Snake Eaters or The
Fiancee, or depict peasants working, in which dark tones and a limited
colour rangę plays a decisive role. Serusier explains nothing in his works, but
consonant with the principle of symbolism, suggests or evokes events, moods,
or experiences. The artist was attracted to the simple, modest, pious life of the
inhabitants of Finistere, which is why his works from this period feature
peasants exhausted from heavy work. Thus he portrayed smali portions of
landscape, most often woods or forested hills, where the sky was not visible,
and people at work or rest. The colours are reduced to a few dark tones, with
yarious shades of red playing a dominant role. At this time the artist was also
tempera on canvas, 35 x 60 cm, inv. no. 1214; cf. the bibliography: W Jaworska “Paul Serusier
au Musee National de Varsovie”, Bulletin dn Musee National de Varsovie, III, 1962, no. 4,
pp. 119-124; W Jaworska, W kręgu Gauguina. Malarze szkoły Pont Aven, Warszawa 1969,
pp. 160-61; M. Guichteau, Paul Serusier, op. cit., cat. 88, 94, 95, 105; Dream ofthe Earth, signed
and dated, 1894, gouache on cardboard, 29 x 36.7 cm, inv. no. Rys.Ob.514, as well as a canvas
received on deposit in 1998 White Cow, signed and dated 1895, egg tempera, 60 x 73 cm, inv.
no. Dep.2795.
75 Woman Sewing, signed and dated 1892, egg tempera on canvas, 46.5 x 37.5 cm, as well as The
Madwoman from Plouganon, signed and dated 1895, egg tempera on canvas, cf. W Jaworska,
Gauguin et 1’Ecole de Pont-Aven, op. cit., p. 130. Guichteau, Paul Serusier, op. cit., cat. no. 66 and
112 76. “Listy III”, and “Listy IV” in Publicystyka, op. cit., II, pp. 184-97.
76 “Listy”, III, and “Listy”, Pt7 in Publicystyka, op. cit., II, pp. 184-197.
130
(1895). 75 The fate of the rest of the works by this great artist is unknown.
I have recovered information that during the war and several years afterward
many of the artist’s works were for sale. They certainly must have come from
Zapolska’s former collection.
She met Serusier during vacation spent in Huelgóat, a smali town in
Brittany located in the depths of the peninsula. Through the intermediary of
Antoine she very ąuickly cultivated friendships with the colony of artists there.
The time spent in Brittany contributed to her deepening interest in symbolism
and influenced the radicalisation of her social views. In the course of a stay
of several months, she wrote and sent to Przegląd Tygodniowy two large
mteresting and superbly written articles about the life, customs, and religious
mysticism in Brittany.76 Serusier lived in Huelgóat in 1892-1894 and the
majority of the works that Zapolska gathered in her collection datę from this
period. A few of them originated in the beginmng of 1895, but they still bear
the influence of the years spent in a harsh climate among poor country people.
The painter had decided to move to the heart of the peninsula, seeking a new
place to work and different sources of inspiration than the surroundings of
Pont Aven, already very famous then and attracting crowds of artists and
tourists. In choosing a wilder region, covered with large rocks and thick
woods, he wanted to find a different local tradition, especially sińce the region
was famous for its lovely legends. Serusier was not interested in Brittany’s
religious hohdays or their rituals and processions. He was looking for less
widely known folklore. The majority of works dating from this period relate
either to Brittany’s legends, such as the paintings The Snake Eaters or The
Fiancee, or depict peasants working, in which dark tones and a limited
colour rangę plays a decisive role. Serusier explains nothing in his works, but
consonant with the principle of symbolism, suggests or evokes events, moods,
or experiences. The artist was attracted to the simple, modest, pious life of the
inhabitants of Finistere, which is why his works from this period feature
peasants exhausted from heavy work. Thus he portrayed smali portions of
landscape, most often woods or forested hills, where the sky was not visible,
and people at work or rest. The colours are reduced to a few dark tones, with
yarious shades of red playing a dominant role. At this time the artist was also
tempera on canvas, 35 x 60 cm, inv. no. 1214; cf. the bibliography: W Jaworska “Paul Serusier
au Musee National de Varsovie”, Bulletin dn Musee National de Varsovie, III, 1962, no. 4,
pp. 119-124; W Jaworska, W kręgu Gauguina. Malarze szkoły Pont Aven, Warszawa 1969,
pp. 160-61; M. Guichteau, Paul Serusier, op. cit., cat. 88, 94, 95, 105; Dream ofthe Earth, signed
and dated, 1894, gouache on cardboard, 29 x 36.7 cm, inv. no. Rys.Ob.514, as well as a canvas
received on deposit in 1998 White Cow, signed and dated 1895, egg tempera, 60 x 73 cm, inv.
no. Dep.2795.
75 Woman Sewing, signed and dated 1892, egg tempera on canvas, 46.5 x 37.5 cm, as well as The
Madwoman from Plouganon, signed and dated 1895, egg tempera on canvas, cf. W Jaworska,
Gauguin et 1’Ecole de Pont-Aven, op. cit., p. 130. Guichteau, Paul Serusier, op. cit., cat. no. 66 and
112 76. “Listy III”, and “Listy IV” in Publicystyka, op. cit., II, pp. 184-97.
76 “Listy”, III, and “Listy”, Pt7 in Publicystyka, op. cit., II, pp. 184-197.
130