Author: Michal Swider
Title: "Scar" (1997) from the series "Windows"
Technique: fresco-secco
Dimensions: 36.5 x 32 cm
Dimensions with frame: 46 x 41.5 cm
Signed p.d.: "Swider"
Inscribed on the back: "MICHAŁ ŚWIDER | BLIZNA | fresco-secco | 1997 R | 36,5 x 32".
Author's stamp of Michał Świder on the reverse.
Work description:
The offered work by Michał Świder is unique if only because of the very technique of execution, which is the so-called dry fresco, consisting in painting with paints mixed with, among others, lime binder on dry plaster.
In terms of form, the painting is characterized by linearity that brings to mind Italian Renaissance painting. The manner in which the figure is shown, as if inside a window, is also in keeping with the convention of representation popular during the Renaissance. The Latin inscription "CICATRIX" at the top signifies the titular scar and gives the whole composition an emblematic character, which is another treatment that refers to the art of past centuries.
The artist has depicted a young woman in an architectural setting, who is looking through a round mirror. The figure's head, neck and shoulders are tightly wrapped in white fabric. The dignified and graceful porcelain face is reflected in the sheet of glass - in the mirror one can see an elongated red scar on the woman's cheek. In this composition, the painter, using a technique dating back to ancient times, has entered into a dialogue with 15th and 16th century painting, creating, as a result, an extremely interesting example of a contemporary work of art with a symbolic meaning worth analyzing and attempting to interpret.
You can read more about this work by Michal Swider on the Krakow Auction House website [SEE].
Michal Swider's biography is available on the Krakow Auction House website [SEE ALSO].
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