DOI Artikel:
Kossowska, Irena: Idea dzieła sztuki sakralnej w latach dwudziestych i trzydziestych XX wieku
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27559#0277
IDEA DZIEŁA SZTUKI SAKRALNEJ W LATACH 20. I 30. XX WIEKU
275
reality, a sign whose mysticai denomination should be fathomed in an act of contempiation.
Gili implemented the idea of a sign in both carving and graphic art. Holding in such high
esteem manual work and crafstmanship he contributed greatly to the wood-engraving revival
in England. Thus, while drawing and cutting wood-engravings Gill aimed at grasping the
structure of the depicted image, of its objective and essential features, independent of the
individual visual perception, as well as an emotional reaction of the beholder. On the other
hand, the stylistic formula employed by Gill proves that he was interested in modern
tendencies in art, both those originating in cubism, and those continuing the tradition of the
„Renaissance primitives", propagated by Maurice Denis. The illustrations and initials, which
he designed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, betray neo-Romanesque simplification and
additivity of form which harmonize with decorative rhythm, radical flattening of shapes and
slendered canon of a human figure, all these being aesthetic qualities typical of Art Déco.
Gill's book illustrations significantly influenced the artistic attitude of Wiktoria Goryńska
(1902-1945), a Polish printmaker who spent her childhood in England. In 1927, the artist
graduated from the Warsaw School of the Pine Arts where she had studied graphic
techniques under Władysław Skoczylas, the creator of the Polish school of woodcut. Next
year she went through a printing training at Samuel Morison's printing house in London.
Gill's works must have appeared most appealing to her not solely for their technical and
stylistic values, but also due to their religious contents. Goryńska was a devout Catholic.
When searching for means of expression that best reflected her own artistic vision, she
referred to various stylistic conventions and sought inspiration in Gill's illustrations as well
as the Quattrocento painting and German Renaissance art. Goryńska's works were highly
appreciated at the exhibition Marla Vergine vista dal/a donna in Florence in 1934, where
she won a gold medal for her wood-engraving P/eta (1929). In the print, which was a
paraphrase of the famous Vatican sculpture by Michelangelo, Goryńska blended a number
of iconographie motifs, namely the traditional Pietà compositional scheme, the scene of the
Lamentation and the motif of bestowing the care of Mary upon the youngest disciple by
dying Christ. Whilst abandoning the traditional Biblical narrative sequence Goryńska faced
the challenge formulated by Gill in his concept of a „heraldic sign" which engenders
contemplation of complex mystical meanings. A similar approach can be seen in the
devotional apotheosis of Joan of Arc (1929) lifted into the abstract eternity space by the
Archangel Michael. The most accomplished concept of the devotional image, and at the
same time the closest to the style of Gill's illustrations, is Goryhska's wood-engraving T/:e
Crucl/lAlon (1934). Here the artist once again harmoniously synthesized several iconographie
motifs. A minute figure of kneeling Mary Magdalene, belonging to the sphere of
worldliness, echoes the motif of pain, representing all those who followed Christ.
Also in Antoni Michalak's (1902-1975) and Adam Bunsch's (1896-1969) paintings, the
two being eminent representatives of sacred art in inter-war Poland, the figure of Mary
Magdalene takes on a symbolic dimension becoming the personification of suffering and sins
of the mankind redeemed by the Savior. In both Michalak's Crucl/lxlon wit/; Mary
Magdalene (1931) and Bunsch's A/ f/;e Cross (1929) one can trace the attempt to find the
most expressive formula of a devotional image opening to mystical meanings - an attempt
undertaken by Gill and Goryńska - to find the symbol of Christianity free from historical
conditionings and the context of the Biblical narrative. To this end the artists applied
stylization, compiled pictorial conventions borrowed from various epochs and artistic schools,
as well as introduced some elements of contemporaneity which are meant to emphasize
universality of the relationship between God and man.
Translated hy Tadeusz Karłowicz
275
reality, a sign whose mysticai denomination should be fathomed in an act of contempiation.
Gili implemented the idea of a sign in both carving and graphic art. Holding in such high
esteem manual work and crafstmanship he contributed greatly to the wood-engraving revival
in England. Thus, while drawing and cutting wood-engravings Gill aimed at grasping the
structure of the depicted image, of its objective and essential features, independent of the
individual visual perception, as well as an emotional reaction of the beholder. On the other
hand, the stylistic formula employed by Gill proves that he was interested in modern
tendencies in art, both those originating in cubism, and those continuing the tradition of the
„Renaissance primitives", propagated by Maurice Denis. The illustrations and initials, which
he designed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, betray neo-Romanesque simplification and
additivity of form which harmonize with decorative rhythm, radical flattening of shapes and
slendered canon of a human figure, all these being aesthetic qualities typical of Art Déco.
Gill's book illustrations significantly influenced the artistic attitude of Wiktoria Goryńska
(1902-1945), a Polish printmaker who spent her childhood in England. In 1927, the artist
graduated from the Warsaw School of the Pine Arts where she had studied graphic
techniques under Władysław Skoczylas, the creator of the Polish school of woodcut. Next
year she went through a printing training at Samuel Morison's printing house in London.
Gill's works must have appeared most appealing to her not solely for their technical and
stylistic values, but also due to their religious contents. Goryńska was a devout Catholic.
When searching for means of expression that best reflected her own artistic vision, she
referred to various stylistic conventions and sought inspiration in Gill's illustrations as well
as the Quattrocento painting and German Renaissance art. Goryńska's works were highly
appreciated at the exhibition Marla Vergine vista dal/a donna in Florence in 1934, where
she won a gold medal for her wood-engraving P/eta (1929). In the print, which was a
paraphrase of the famous Vatican sculpture by Michelangelo, Goryńska blended a number
of iconographie motifs, namely the traditional Pietà compositional scheme, the scene of the
Lamentation and the motif of bestowing the care of Mary upon the youngest disciple by
dying Christ. Whilst abandoning the traditional Biblical narrative sequence Goryńska faced
the challenge formulated by Gill in his concept of a „heraldic sign" which engenders
contemplation of complex mystical meanings. A similar approach can be seen in the
devotional apotheosis of Joan of Arc (1929) lifted into the abstract eternity space by the
Archangel Michael. The most accomplished concept of the devotional image, and at the
same time the closest to the style of Gill's illustrations, is Goryhska's wood-engraving T/:e
Crucl/lAlon (1934). Here the artist once again harmoniously synthesized several iconographie
motifs. A minute figure of kneeling Mary Magdalene, belonging to the sphere of
worldliness, echoes the motif of pain, representing all those who followed Christ.
Also in Antoni Michalak's (1902-1975) and Adam Bunsch's (1896-1969) paintings, the
two being eminent representatives of sacred art in inter-war Poland, the figure of Mary
Magdalene takes on a symbolic dimension becoming the personification of suffering and sins
of the mankind redeemed by the Savior. In both Michalak's Crucl/lxlon wit/; Mary
Magdalene (1931) and Bunsch's A/ f/;e Cross (1929) one can trace the attempt to find the
most expressive formula of a devotional image opening to mystical meanings - an attempt
undertaken by Gill and Goryńska - to find the symbol of Christianity free from historical
conditionings and the context of the Biblical narrative. To this end the artists applied
stylization, compiled pictorial conventions borrowed from various epochs and artistic schools,
as well as introduced some elements of contemporaneity which are meant to emphasize
universality of the relationship between God and man.
Translated hy Tadeusz Karłowicz