Building a Monument, 1937

Construction of the Piłsudski Monument in Krakow. It was decided that it would have the form of a mound, in reference to the already existing commemoration – the mound of Tadeusz Kościuszko, and the pagan mounds preserved in the area occupied by the city of Krakow. The construction was a universal act, and even ladies in hats and lace gloves took a symbolic part in this action. My grandmother and her friends also joined in, which was then rather typical, desirable, and of course fashionable. I used the then almost “selfie” that the ladies had made on this occasion: on the construction site, with the appropriate attributes - wheelbarrows filled with building material, and monument under construction in the background, and the heroines of the picture are elegantly dressed – in their party dresses, hats and lace gloves. In this spirit, too, I painted the first version of the painting ("Construction of the Mound, 1937"). In the second version, based on artistic solutions - the method of painting the majority of the canvas’s surface, the least in the patch of the mound – there was an allusion to oriental travel, popular in certain milieus as early as the 19th century. We are familiar with the typical photographic documentation of such expeditions depicting people in dressed in the European, almost party style, against the pyramids, and often with a camel – in other words, the appearance of the character appears completely absurd in the context of the place. The lack of detail, the free movement of the brush in the picture give the impression of mirage (an effect typical of desert areas) and, together with the colors, they emphasize the aforementioned reference.