Jerzy Nowosielski, NUDE, 1993

37 x 27.5 cm - pen and ink on cream paper

37 x 27.5 cm - dimensions inside the mat
signed in lead, lower left, vertically: JERZY NOWOSIELSKI 93

The theme of women bound with rope or subjected to other forms of physical torment (suspended, unnaturally crouched, stretched on a wheel, etc.) appeared in Nowosielski’s art around 1950, alongside a series of paintings depicting gymnasts, runners, soccer players, swimmers—in general, women engaged in sports. The drawing on offer is a late reflection of these fascinations of the artist.
A similar depiction of the nude, with the head rendered in the same manner and the hands tied behind the back, appears in a drawing from 1993, reproduced in the album: Jerzy Nowosielski, [ed.] Starmach Gallery, Nowosielski Foundation, Kraków 2003, cat. 697, ill. p. 470.

♣ Droit de suite: ♣ A fee resulting from the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994, on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite) will be added to the Purchase Price.

Jerzy Nowosielski (Kraków 1923 – Kraków 2011) began his studies at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Kraków in 1940. In 1942, he spent just under a year at the Lavra of St. John the Baptist near Lviv. There, he studied painting and the history of icons. After returning to Kraków in 1943, he reestablished contact with the circle that would become the Kraków Group. After the war, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków under the guidance of Prof. Eugeniusz Eibisch (1945–1947). At the First Exhibition of Modern Art in Kraków in 1948–49, he presented paintings in the style of geometric abstraction. During the era of Socialist Realism, he did not exhibit his work, instead focusing on set design and painting Orthodox and Catholic churches. In 1955, he presented his first solo exhibition in Łódź, and in 1956, he participated in the 28th Venice Biennale. From 1957 to 1962, he taught at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Łódź, and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he lectured at the Department of Painting until his retirement in 1993. In the second half of the 1950s, he developed a distinctive style in his nudes, landscapes, and figural scenes in interiors, which he owed to his fascination with icons and his experience with sacred art. In 1976, he resumed working on monumental projects, creating, among other things, murals, Stations of the Cross, and stained-glass designs for the Church of Divine Providence in Wesoła near Warsaw (1976–1979). The artist was widely recognized as an authority in the field of art rooted in spiritual values.
Jerzy Nowosielski died on February 21, 2011, in Kraków.