REVERSE PAINTING ON GLASS IN POLAND
In
the
old
days
the
interior
of
peasant
smoky
huts,
without
chimneys,
was
decorated
with
colorful
paintings
on
glass
hanging
in
a
row on the wall.
Even
in
the
dim
light
they
looked
bright
like
a
bunch
of
field
flowers,
like
glossy
wings
of
enormous
butterflies.
They
were
believed
to
protect
the
home
from
fire,
to
be
of
help
in
trouble
and
hard
times;
the
Saints
portrayed
in
these
paintings
were
the
family’s
patrons.
Respected
and
collected
for
generations
they
finally
had
to
give
in
to
the
invasion
of
cheap
oil
prints
and
devotional
religious
articles bought at Church Fairs.
Nowadays, gathered in the galleries and Ethnographic museums, they play a different role.
They tell us not only of the namelless gifted artists but also, are of great artistic value and surprisingly rich in forms of expression.
The
painters
were
the
heirs
to
the
guild
painting
of
old
days;
their
approach
to
art
was
that
of
artisans;
they
often
produced
series
of paintings for sale at fairs and church patron’s festivals.
The
Centers
of
painting
production
of
this
kind
were
usually
situated
in
famous
church
festival
places
such
as
Czestochowa,
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska and Lezajsk.
In some instances a painting Center was created where raw materials were easily available.
Such was the case with the painting on glass which was practised in the neigbourchood of glassworks of Silesia and Spisz.
Along
with
painting
centers
usually
consisting
of
several
workshops,
there
were
also
individual
workshops
mainly
in
small
towns
and
even
villages.
They
painted
mostly
for
chapels
and
churches,
but
accepted
also
commisioned
work
for
peasants
who
were
principal buyers.
As
early
as
eighteen
century
it
was
customary
to
have
a
number
of
Saints’
paintings
in
the
main
room
of
the
house,
at
least,
so
it
seems
from
peasants’
inventories
which
mention
several
oil
paintings
and
several
or
more
“paper”
ones.
The
paintings
were
hung
in
a
row
opposite
the
entrance.
The
bottom
edge
of
the
paintings
was
supported
with
a
batten
nailed
to
the
wall,
and
the
top
edge
was secured to the ceiling in such a way as to incline the paintings towards the onlooker.
To
possess
Saints’
paintings
hanging
in
a
row
on
the
wall
was
not
only
an
evidence
of
the
piety
of
the
residents,
it
was
also
the
result of public opinion influence in the neighborhood: it would not do to begrudge money for this purpose.
Peddlars
and
salesmen
at
church
festivals
knew
how
to
make
use
of
this
attitude
of
peasants
and
supplied
religious
paintings
to
them
in
quantity.
Their
trade
has
rather
a
long
tradition
and
dates
back
to
the
beginning
of
eighteen
century
according
to
historical
sources.
The
painters
themselves
did
not
generally
take
active
part
in
selling
paintings.
They
preferred
to
paint
on
commission
and
only
the
unsold,
was
disposed
of
through
the
intermediary
of
traders.
Perhaps,
it
would
not
be
considered
proper
for
the
painters
to
give
time to the business of selling their works.
Painting
was
done
by
series.
The
Artist,
having
prepared
several
paintings,
took
a
pot,
say
with
red
paint
and
covered
with
it
those
places
on
all
the
paintings
which
had
to
be
red.
In
a
similar
manner
he
covered,
in
turn,
other
spaces.
The
ordinary
covering
with
paint
was,
sometimes,
done
for
the
master
by
other
persons,
e.g.
apprentices
or
members
of
the
family.
The
painter’s
wife
or
daughters
often
specialized
in
flower-piece
decorations,
but
painting
of
human
features,
the
most
difficult
task,
was
usually
performed by the master himself.
Not every painter however, was able to do so.
In
large
centres
of
painting,
such
as
e.g.
Czestochowa,
a
less
skilled
painter
might
ask
a
more
able
colleague
to
paint
a
human
face for him.
In
spite
of
the
technical
limitations,
paintings
on
glass
display
a
great
variety
of
artistic
achievement
and
it
is
difficult,
at
first
sight,
to
classify
them
appropriately.
Careful
scrutiny,
however,
permits
of
an
attempt
at
grouping
some
paintings
into
sets
on
the
basis
of common assumptions.
What makes the paintings on glass continue to exert aesthetic influence?
It
is
certainly
not
the
themes
or
cultural
elements
that
played
an
important
role
when
they
were
created.
They
owe
their
lasting
significance
to
great
artistic
values
and
the
affinity
to
contemporary
art,
like
Naïve
painting,
discovered
in
France
at
the
beginning
of
nineteen
century,
in
the
works
of
primitive
artists
led
by
Henri
Rousseau
a
customs
official
who
became
a
kind
of
precursor
of
modern art. So the paintings on glass have values affined to the ideas underlying contemporary, plastic arts.
Painters
on
glass
had
no
contact
with
the
artistic
and
spiritual
culture
of
their
period,
but
they
had
their
own
vision
of
the
world
in
which
they
maintained
purity
and
exceptional
earnestness,
carried
over
instinctively
in
an
independent
and,
at
times,
perfect
artistic form.
Their
great
sense
of
color,
the
application
of
flat
brush
strokes
of
primary
colors
in
a
decorative
outline,
sincerity
in
making
conscious
deformation
to
emphasize
expression
or
attain
singleness
of
composition,
these
are
the
fundamental
features
of
the
contemporary art.
In
1888,
Paul
Gauguin,
when
formulating
the
principles
of
“synthesis”
in
painting,
mentions
these
features
as
necessary
to
strive
for in painting; they were aimed at in the so-called school “de Port-Aven” in Brittany.
Two
characteristic
methods
of
painting
are
developed
there.
The
“Cloisonnisme”
consisting
in
isolating
the
broad
surfaces
of
uniform
pure
colors,
set
in
decorative
and
forceful
arabesques
of
the
drawing;
and
the
“Synthetisme”
renouncing
the
details
and
the direct experience with the object in order to represent its essential form, i.e.”idea”.
As
a
consequence,
and
return
to
primitivism,
the
aesthetics
of
symbolism
draws
incitement
from
the
above
conceptions
and
thus
renews
the
outlook
on
art.
It
is
therefore,
not
surprising
that
painters
became
interested
in
primitive
and
neo-primitive
art
possessing the freshness of experience and the artistic ideas complying with the new aesthetics.
The greatest artists and men of letters; Appolinaire, Picasso, Delaunay,
Le Corbusier, discovered and defended this neo-primitive art great exhibitions which were held in Paris,New York,Bern,Zurich.
Deep
relationship
was
discovered
between
the
striving
of
the
present-day
artists
and
individual
achievements
of
those
primitive
artists like Rousseau, Bauchant, Bombois, Seraphine, Vivin and others.
Sincerity
was
characteristic
of
all
neo-primitive
painters;
their
vision
was
often
naïve,
their
true
feelings
were
carried
over
in,
at
times,
very
original
artistic
form.
The
perfect
sense
of
color,
devotion
to
detail
and
uniformity
of
composition,
led
them
to
instinctive rendering of their own, often childishly fairy-like, vision of the world.
Agnieszka T. Solawa
AGNIESZKA SOLAWA
ARTIST
