Lampa zblaszanym abażurem. Oobrazach Jacka Waltosia
ALamp with aTin Shade. On Paintings by Jacek Waltoś

Summary/Abstract: The topic of this article are three oil canvases by Ja- cek Waltoś featuring the motif of the home: Great Im- provisation – Small Stabilisation (1975), Awaiting, Ec- stasy, Resignation (1977) and Threefold Pieta and the Fourth (1980). As amember of the 'Wprost' group the artist declared the realisation of painting involved in social issues, commenting on contemporary reality with the assistance of figurative depictions endowed with unambiguous contents. The works by Waltoś are, against the backdrop of the 'Wprost' oeuvre, di- stinguished by their distance towards speaking unam- biguously and adirect portrayal of the world. Their characteristic features include a sui generis lyrical ap- proach and asublimation of the form and contents. The originality of these depictions consists of apre- sentation of interpersonal relations transpiring in the scenery of the home. Each of the discussed canvases displays alamp with atin shade; by possessing aconcealed meaning it con- stitutes asymbol of the space of the Sacrum. The lamp and the portrayed figures share different relations. In Great Improvisation – Small Stabilisation the soaring ma- le figure consistently realises his wish to come closer to the lamp, despite the fact that the bulb is not shining. Awaiting, Ecstasy, Resignation features acontrary situ- ation, since it is the rendered figure of aperson, or mo- re precisely, awoman sitting in an armchair, which as- sumes apassive attitude, whilethe glowing lamp, han- ging from the ceiling, is located in the direct proximi- ty of the sitter. Both motifs are focused in Threefold Pieta and the Fourth, in which kneeling figures assume an active stance and the lamp, once against suspended from the ceiling, draws them forth from the semi-sha- de. This, in turn, suggests areference to so-called ver- tical relations, which connect the figures with empiri- cally inaccessible space that corresponds to the idea of the home conceived as axis mundi and identified with asite that renders possible alink with God.

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