Henryk Siemiradzki Krajolik iz rimske Campagne / Landscape

from the Roman Campagna, 1874.

Studija ženske glave (Talijanka) / Study of a Woman’s Head (Italian Woman), 1874.

Pejzaž s likovima iz antike / Landscape with Figures from Antiquity, 1877.

U F O K U S UI N F O C U S

M O d e r N a g a l e r I j a , Z ag r e b2 0 . l I STO Pa da – 4 . Pr O S I N C a 2 0 1 6 .O C TO b e r 2 0 – d eCe M b e r 4 , 2 0 1 6

Henryk Siemiradzki jedan je od najpoznatijih poljskih slikara figuralnih kompozicija s temama iz starorimske povijesti te biblijskih i mitoloških motiva. Rođen je u poljskoj obitelji koja se doselila u Harkovsku oblast, koja se tada nalazi u okviru carske Rusije. U Harkovu se školuje i studira. Taj ze-mljopisno-povijesni podatak vjerojatno je utjecao na njegov širi pogled na svijet u vremenu velikih nacionalnih poruka i ideja što se ogledalo u izbo-ru tema njegovih slika koje nisu u znatnoj mjeri vezane za poljsku povijest. Osnovna je to sižejna razlika između njega i nešto starijeg Jana Matejka (1893.– 1898.), najpoznatijeg poljskog slikara povi-jesnih i domoljubnih kompozicija koje su nosile poruku nacionalnog ponosa nekad velike i moćne države. Henryk Siemiradzki u tom smislu nije bio ograničen; slikao je motive i iz ruske povijesti što mu još i danas rigidni čuvari nacionalnih vrijedno-sti ne zaboravljaju.

Širinu koju je imao u izboru tema i motiva svo-jih djela nažalost nije u istoj mjeri pratila likovna širina. Ono što mu se u tom smislu predbacivalo ubrzo nakon njegove smrti pa sve do novijeg doba jest ustrajanje na konzervativnom akademskom slikarskom načinu u vremenu kada i u njegovu okruženju organizirano djeluju umjetnici napredni-jeg realističnog likovnog izraza okupljeni u pokret Peredvižniki.3

Henryk Siemiradzki diplomirao je slikarstvo 1871. na petrogradskoj Likovnoj akademiji. Pret-hodno, 1864., završio je studij prirodoslovlja na

Henryk Siemiradzki (novogrudok kraj Harkova, 24. 10. 1848. – Strazałkowo kraj Częstahowe, 23. 8. 1902.)

inzistiranje roditelja. Kao student likovne akade-mije navodno je bio neposlušan te je često izbivao s nastave kako bi slikao u prirodi.4 Također, puno je vremena provodio u Ermitažu, redovito poha-đao tamošnja kazališta i time stekao dobar uvid u europsku kulturu.

Određena dvojnost likovnog poimanja označila je njegov cjelokupni slikarski opus. S jedne stra-ne privrženost akademskom načinu rada, s druge strane zatomljavani intuitivni interes za slikanje u prirodi i zainteresiranost za likovni jezik, odnosno ono što se naziva “čistim slikarstvom”, slikarstvom u kojemu siže ne igra bitnu ulogu i nije sredstvo prenošenja izvanlikovnih poruka. Možda je upravo zbog toga Siemiradzki odabrao München kao de-stinaciju u kojoj je trebao započeti šestogodišnju stipendiju, a na koju je imao pravo nakon što je stekao titulu profesora slikanja na petrogradskoj Akademiji. München je grad u kojemu akademija formalno dugo njeguje idealističku estetiku, ali u kojem se istodobno u okviru bavljenja pejzažnim slikarstvom još od početka 19., odnosno kraja 18. stoljeća isprepliću dvije struje, idealistička i rea-listička, što kulminira Courbetovom izložbom u Staklenoj palači 1869. Siemiradzki se nije formalno upisao na minhensku Akademiju, ali se upoznaje i druži s poljskim slikarima koji su pohađali ta-mošnju akademiju. Neki minhenski đaci tvrdili su da je pohađao satove slikanja kod Carla Pilotyja,5 za što nema pouzdane dokumentacije. Druži se s poljskim slikarima koji su kasnije krenuli različitim

Krajolik iz rimske Campagne, 1874.ulje/platno, 23 x 36,5 cm | sign. nema | MG-143 | nabava: poklon

Studija ženske glave (Talijanka), 1874.ulje/platno, 26 x 19,2 cm | sign. nema | MG-145 | nabava: poklon dr. Ivana Ružića1

Pejzaž s likovima iz antike, 1877.ulje/platno, 49,5 x 64,5 cm | sign. d.l.k.: Henrik Siemiradz. Roma. 1877 r. | MG-144 | nabava: poklon neimenovanog darovatelja 1889.2

likovnim putovima. Joseph Brandt (1841.– 1915.) ostao je najvjerniji akademskom načinu rada u povijesnim scenama bitaka dok se Walery Broc-hock (1847.– 1923.) posvetio slikanju pejzaža na način barbizonske škole, a Aleksander Gierymski (1850.– 1901.), koji je također neko vrijeme živio i radio u Rimu, kreće novim putem u slikarstvu približavajući se impresionističkom izrazu. Posebno se intenzivno družio sa Stanislavom Witkiewiczem (1851.– 1915.), slikarom i poznatim teoretičarom realizma kojeg je upoznao još na petrogradskoj Akademiji. Witkiewicz je kasnije postao jedan od najoštrijih kritičara Siemiradzkova slikarstva.

Međutim, Siemiradzki se nije dugo zadržao u Münchenu te već 1872. preko Austrije putuje po Italiji da bi se konačno smjestio u Rimu u kojem je ostvario uspješnu slikarsku karijeru koja mu je omogućila znatnu financijsku sigurnost. Tu u rimskom predgrađu izgradio je veliku villu u kojoj je imao čak dva atelijera: jedan reprezentativni za posjetitelje i drugi u kojem je radio. Rimski atelijer Henryka Siemiradzkog bio je važan kao mjesto

okupljanja tadašnjih velikaša i osoba iz javnog društveno-kulturnog života Rima, poljskih, ali i drugih, posebno slavenskih slikara.

Najveći broj njegovih slika tematski je vezan za povijest starog Rima za što mu je život u Rimu bio više nego koristan. Slike su mu duboko povezane s rimskom Campagnom i napuljskom provincijom u smislu da iz njih crpi autentične arheološke pojedi-nosti, ali i specifično intenzivno svijetlo karakteri-stično za srednju i južnu Italiju. Jedna od njegovih najuspješnijih slika Trijumf Venere iz 1892. koja se čuva Nacionalnom muzeju u Varšavi izvrsno ilustri-ra kako Siemiradzki istražuje i koristi antičku arhi-tekturu u koju smješta mitološku scenu obasjanu svjetlom koje je iskustveno spoznao.6

U to je vrijeme Henryk Siemiradzki bio uglav-nom hvaljen slikar i to zbog svoje slikarske vještine koja je proizlazila iz akademske estetike zahtije-vajući od umjetnika da prenosi svojim djelima povijesno-literarne poruke eklektičkog karaktera. Pritom su slikarska nadarenost i vještina bili sred-stvo za postizanje cilja. Slikarsko umijeće bilo je

Krajolik iz rimske Campagne / Landscape from the Roman Campagna, 1874.

zapaženo i visoko cijenjeno. Tako je između osta-lih pisaca njegov suvremenik, Nobelovac Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846.– 1916.) oduševljeno pisao 1880. o slici Ples među mačevima koju je Siemiradzki naslikao između 1879. i 1880.: “Nitko ne slika tako kao Siemiradzki (…) Samo onaj tko je vlastitim očima gledao okolicu Rima i Napuljski zaljev-može razumjeti koliko je istine i duha u tom pejzažu, u tom plavetnilu, u tom prelijevanju ružičastih i pla-vih tonova i u toj prozirnoj udaljenosti. Kad bi to platno bilo pejzaž, na kojem ni jedno živo biće ne bi oživljavalo tišinu i pustoš-i tada bi bilo remek djelo.”7

Jedno je od ključnih djela Henryka Siemirad-zkog slika Neronove baklje iz 1876. godine koja je doživjela nevjerojatnu slavu u svoje doba, a koju je kasnije Siemiradzki poklonio Krakovu te je postala temeljem osnivanja Narodnog muzeja u Sukiennicama.8

Njegovo slikarstvo predstavlja kozmopolitsku struju unutar akademskog slikarstva 19. stoljeća koje koristi iskustvo slikanja u plein-airu, što mu omogućava detaljnu realističku opservaciju i slika-nje pojedinosti. Djela su mu prepuna luminističkih efekata temeljenih na neposrednom promatranju u prirodi, ali su slikana i komponirana u atelijeru gdje antičkim, biblijskim ili mitološkim prostorima dodaje likove u neprirodnim teatralnim pozama i tako stvara artificijelne figurativne kompozicije.

Ipak, Henryk Siemiradzki preuzet atmosferom talijanskog pejzaža naslikao je i određeni broj malih pejzaža u plein-airu koje karakterizira neposrednost doživljaja. U tom smislu važna je zbirka koju Narod-ni muzej u Krakovu posjeduje od 1980. godine. Riječ je o znatnom broju studija, skica, grafika i fotografija Henryka Siemiradzkog koje pokazuju drugačijeg sli-kara, slikara slobodnijeg likovna poimanja i izraza.9

Za svog je života Siemiradzki stekao izuzetnu slavu i brojne počasti. Njegov atelijer posjetila je talijanska kraljica Margareta i princ Pavle, brat ru-skog cara; bio je počasni član brojnih akademija. Njegovi radovi predstavljani su kao velike umjetnič-ke atrakcije po najvažnijim gradovima Europe. Za cijelog svog života ostao je povezan i s Poljskom koju je često posjećivao kako bi predstavio svoje radove na izložbama u Krakovu ili Varšavi. Isto tako

održavao je kontakte i s petrogradskom Likovnom akademijom i samim gradom gdje je također pred-stavljao svoje radove.

Naravno, postojali su tada i drugačiji glasovi koji su kritički progovarali o njegovim radovima ukazujući na neke negativne pojave njegova sli-karstva, kao što je isprazna vještina slikanja u funk-ciji postizanja luminističkih efekata. Siemiradzki je uistinu posjedovao vrhunsku vještinu slikanja i komponiranja figurativnih kompozicija: koristio je idealizirane ili tipske likove i “umetao” ih u isto tako idealizirane eksterijere ili interijere. Stoga je već u osamdesetim godinama 19. stoljeća, kada se uvelike osjećala promjena u shvaćanju umjet-ničkog koncepta, postupno došlo do dijametralno suprotnog odnosa prema slikarstvu Henryka Sie-miradzkog da bi ubrzo nakon smrti bio potpuno zaboravljen čak i u Poljskoj. Tek se u novije vrije-me i akademsko slikarstvo 19. stoljeća preispituje i određuje kao jedan od slikarskih načina u povijesti umjetnosti koje je imalo svoje mjesto u razvoju slikarstva te se time brojni umjetnički opusi, kao što je i djelo Henryka Siemiradzkog, revaloriziraju i smještaju na mjesta koja im realno pripadaju.

Ime Henryka Siemiradzkog u hrvatskoj povi-jesti umjetnosti spominje se u vezi s našim slika-rima 19. stoljeća koji su među prvima pohađali minhensku Akademiju. Prije svega, vezano je uz ime Ferde Quiquereza te Ise Kršnjavog. Quiquerez je upoznao Siemiradzkog još u Münchenu, da bi se ponovno sreli i produbili svoje prijateljstvo u Rimu i rimskoj Campagni. Studijska putovanja po sred-njoj i južnoj Italiji bila su gotovo redovita praksa tadašnjih slikara. Tamo su se mogli upoznati slikari iz različitih zemalja i neformalno zajednički družiti i raditi. Za Siemiradzkog to je bilo još jednostavnije jer je živio i radio u Rimu pa je mogao često odla-ziti u Sorrento ili na Capri te okolicu Napulja gdje se susretao i s našim umjetnicima. O tome kako se upoznao i kasnije družio te radio u Siemiradzkovu atelijeru piše sam Kršnjavi u svom Autonekrologu pišući o sebi u trećem licu.10

Moderna galerija posjeduje tri studije Henryka Siemiradzkog rađene upravo tijekom njegova bora-vaka u rimskoj Campagni i napuljskoj okolici.

Slika Krajolik iz rimske Campagne nastala 1874. dimenzijama je nevelika uljena studija. U pr-vom je planu kamena stijena iza koje vijuga plavi-často-sivkasta rijeka. U daljini se spajaju zeleno-ze-mljasta ploha nizine sa sivo-plavom plohom neba i tako nastavljaju započetu kolorističku izmjenu toplih i hladnih tonova. Slika je slikana neposredno, u prirodi na dnevnom svjetlu, slobodnima pote-znima kista, bez naknadnog dotjerivanja. Likovni jezik sveden je na svoju bit, bez opterećivanja slike nepotrebnim deskripcijama pojedinosti. Ukrasni luministički efekti ustupili su mjesto prirodnom svjetlu. To je način slikanja kojim su kretali slikari zaokupljeni razmišljanjem o slikarskoj, likovnoj su-štini. Motiv je jednostavan, nepretenciozan djelić prirode, onakav kakav bi izabrao slikar realističkog načina koji odbacuje akademski red i strogoću.

U to vrijeme Siemiradzki čestog putuje u Sorrento i Napulj tražeći ljetnikovac za svoju obitelj te se ponovno nalazi s našim Ferdom Qu-iquerezom. Iz iste 1874. godine je i Quiquerezova slika Krajolik iz rimske Campagne. Slikana je s istog mjesta kao i Siemiradzkova slika. Potpuno isti mo-tiv: stijena u prvom planu smještena u desnom kutu iza koje vijuga rijeka te se iza nje nastavljaju zemljane plohe pejzaža koji se u daljini spajaju s plavičastom plohom neba. Isti motiv s istim kolo-rističkim zadatkom!

Studija ženske glave također je nastala 1874. Profil ženskog lika tipičan je idealizirani prikaz žene kojeg nalazimo na velikim figurativnim kompo-zicijama Henryka Siemiradzkog. Jedna od njih je slika Rimska idila nastala oko 1885. godine a koja se čuva u Nacionalnom muzeju u Varšavi. Naša

Pejzaž s likovima iz antike / Landscape with Figures from Antiquity, 1877.

1 Dr. Ivan Ružić (1849.– 1915.), odvjetnik, pravaš i katolički aktivist.

2 U inventarnoj knjizi navodi se: “dar odličnika neimenovanog rodoljuba 1889” – moguće je da je ovu sliku Krajolik iz rimske Campagne također kupio i poklonio dr. Ivan Ružić.

3 Peredvižniki, (rus. putnici) umjetnički pokret osnovan u Petrogradu 1870. kao reakcija na rigoroznost akademskog načina slikanja; posvećenost umjetnosti. U skladu sa svojim načelima demokratizacije umjetnosti organiziraju putujuće izložbe kako bi umjetnost približili svim društvenim slojevima.

4 Wiesława Górska: Henryk Siemiradzki, Warszawa, 2007, str. 36.

5 Ewa Micke-Broniarek: Henryk Siemiradzki, http://culture.pl/pl/tworca/henryk-siemiradzki, datum pristupa 20. 9. 2016.

6 O tome više: Claudie Albore Livadie, Witold Dobrowski: L’ antica Baia in un’ opera di Henryk Siemiradzki u www.academia.edu/66 100 40/Lantica_Baia_in_unopera_di_Henrik_Siemiradzki, datum pristupa 2. 8. 2016.

7 Wiesława Górska: Henryk Siemiradzki, Warszawa, 2007, str. 65, prijevod Đurđica Čilić Škeljo.

8 Sukiennice (polj. suknara) – jedna od najpoznatijih građevina u Krakovu. Srednjovjekovna građevina obnovljena u renesansnom stilu u 16. stoljeću. Služila je kao mjesto trgovanja suknom, kožom, začinima i sl. Od 1879. godine u njoj se nalazi Nacionalna galerija umjetnosti 19. stoljeća kao dio Nacionalnog muzeja.

9 Povodom donacije djela Henryka Siemiradzkog održana je 1980. godine izložba i izdan je katalog pod nazivom HENRYK SIEMIRADZKI jakiego nie znamy, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Krakow, 1980.

10 “Vrativši se u jesen 1874. u Rim upoznaje se s vrlim poljskim slikarom Siemiradzkim, u čijem je velikom ateljeu čitavu godinu slikao. Sa Siemiradzkim proučavao je i arheologiju. (S. je baš onda slikao svoju veliku sliku

‘Neronove baklje’.)”“God. 1875. uzeo je Kršnjavi malen atelje u kući, gdje je

Siemiradzki radio pa je tamo svu zimu slikao, družio se sa S. te od njega primao dobre savjete.”, Autonekrolog, u: dr. Ivan Krtalić (prir.): Iso Kršnjavi / Zapisci – Iza kulisa hrvatske politike I/II, Zagreb, Mladost, 1986., str. 2.

studija ženskog lika najsličnija je upravo liku mla-de žene s ove slike. Središnji lik mlade žene koja smješkajući se opušteno sjedi i uživa u dekadentno lagodnom životu isti je tip idealizirane, uzvišene ženske ljepote kojoj se neprestance divio i koju je neumorno slikao Siemiradzki. Galerijska slika nedo-vršena je studija i predstavlja jednu od inačica tog idealiziranog lika, u ovom slučaju ozbiljnog izraza lica. Topao kolorit i sjene dnevnog svjetla osnovni su likovni zadaci. Zlatnožute plohe marame kojom je vezana kosa podignuta u tipičnu elegantnu pun-đu i ploha dekoltea haljine izmjenjuju se s nježno ružičastim obrubom drugog dijela dekoltea haljine i obraza djevojke na svijetlom inkarnatu lica i vrata. To slikarsko promišljanje na velikim figurativnim kompozicijama ustupa mjesto dekorativnosti i lu-minističkim efektima.

Slika Pejzaž s antičkim likovima iz 1877. jedi-na je galerijska slika Henryka Siemiradzkog koja je potpisana, datirana i ubicirana. Ta je činjenica svrstava u gotove slike. Siemiradzki je povremeno slikao malene pejzaže talijanskih pokrajina koji su bili lišeni atelijerske dotjeranosti i usiljenosti. Sie-miradzkog ovdje prvenstveno zanima pejzaž dok su likovi manjeg značaja, samo definiraju vremen-sko razdoblje budući da su obučeni u starorimsku odjeću. Dakle doslikani su u rimskom atelijeru. Ka-meni most, stijena i arhitektura slikani su različi-tim sivim nijansama kao i stabla koja se nalaze na obronku iznad mosta. Veliko tamnozeleno stablo koje baca popodnevnu sjenu zatvara koloristič-ki elegantnu kompoziciju. Scena nije opterećena dekorativnim pojedinostima kojima obiluju figura-tivne kompozicije. Siemiradzki je slikao konkretne arheološke, arhitektonske i pejzažne motive te ih po potrebi uklapao u figurativne kompozicije. Ka-meni most s ove slike nalazimo tako u drugačijem pejzažu na figurativnoj kompoziciji Amulet iz 1890. u novgorodskom muzeju.

Predstavljanjem triju galerijskih slika Henryka Siemiradzkog odškrinuli smo vrata upoznavanju djelića opusa jednog od najznačajnijih poljskih sli-kara 19. stoljeća. Iako nije riječ o reprezentativnim radovima po kojima je poznat, riječ je o radovima koja su važna u smislu metode rada, ali i naznaka

modernijeg poimanja slikarstva unutar jednog izrazito akademskog opusa. Jednako tako te slike važne su i kao kontekst i pokazatelj opće tenden-cije tadašnjih umjetnika kojima su djelomično pripadali i naši slikari školovani na minhenskoj Akademiji.

Dajana Vlaisavljević

Henry Siemiradzki is one of the best known Polish painters of figural compositions showing scenes from the history of Ancient Rome or biblical and mythological subjects. He was born into a Polish family that moved to the Kharkov oblast, which was then part of tsarist Russia. He went to school and did his higher education in Kharkov. These geographical and historical circumstances prob-ably affected his broader outlook on the world at a time of big national messages and ideas, reflected in the choice of themes in his paintings, which are not to any great extent related to Polish history. This is the basic difference in subjects between him and the somewhat older Jan Matejko (1838–1893), the best known Polish painter of historical and patriotic compositions that bore the message of the national pride of the once great and powerful state. Henryk Siemiradzki was not constrained in the same way and painted motifs from Russian his-tory as well, which even today the rigid guardians of national values do not forgive him.

The breadth he had in choice of themes and motifs for his works was not alas matched by the scope of his art. What was held against him soon after his death, and right up to the mod-ern period, was his persistence in painting in the conservative academic manner at a time when even in his setting artists were working in a self-organised manner, in the more advanced realistic artistic idiom, gathered together in the Peredvizh-niki movement3.

Henryk Siemiradzki(novogrudok near kharkov, 24. 10. 1848. - Strazałkowo near Częstochowa, 23. 8. 1902.)

Henryk Siemiradzki took his diploma in paint-ing in 1871 at the Petrograd art academy. Previously, in 1864, at the insistence of his parents, he had completed a natural sciences course. Apparently, at the art academy he was a recalcitrant student and often skipped lectures in order to paint in nature4. He spent a lot of the time in the Hermit-age and regularly visited the theatres, thus getting a good insight into European culture.

A certain duality of ideas about art marked the whole of his oeuvre of paintings. On the one hand, loyalty to the academic manner of work; on the other, an intuitive if suppressed interest in paint-ing in nature and an interest in visual language, or what was called pure painting, painting in which the subject did not play a crucial role and was not a means of transmitting non-visual messages. For this reason perhaps Siemiradzki chose Munich as the destination in which to start a six-year schol-arship, to which he had the right after acquiring the degree of professor of painting at the Petro-grad academy. Munich was the city in which the Academy had formally long cultivated the idealist aesthetic, but in which at the same time within the framework of dealing with landscape painting, from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, two trends had been interwoven, the idealist and the realistic, culminating in Courbet’s 1869 exhibition in the Glass Palace. Siemiradzki did not enrol for-mally in the academy, but got to know and social-ised with Polish painters who attended the school.

Landscape from the Roman Campagna, 1874oil/canvas, 23 x 36.5cm | unsigned | MG-143 | accession: gift

Study of a Woman’s Head (Italian Woman), 1874oil/canvas, 26 x 19.2cm | unsigned | MG-145 | accession: gift of Dr Ivan Ružić1

Landscape with Figures from Antiquity, 1877oil/canvas, 49.5 x 64.5cm | sign. b.l.c.: Henrik Siemiradz. Roma. 1877 r. | MG-144 | acquisition: gift of an unnamed donor 1889.2

Some Munich students claimed that he did go to painting lessons given by Carl Piloty,5 but this is no reliable documentation to support this. He kept company with Polish painters who later on set off in various and different visual directions. Joseph Brandt (1841–1915) remained the most faithful to the academic manner of work in historical battle scenes, while Walery Brochock (1847–1923) dedi-cated himself to painting landscapes in the man-ner of the Barbizon School. Aleksander Gierymski (1850–1901), on the other hand, who also lived and worked in Rome for some time, set out on a new path in painting, coming close to the Impres-sionist idiom. Siemiradzki was particularly friendly with Stanislav Witkiewicz (1851–1951), painter and well-known theorist of realism, whom he had met

back at the Petrograd academy. Witkiewicz was later to be one of the most severe critics of Seimi-radzki’s painting.

However, Henryk Siemiradzki did not spend much time in Munich and as early as 1872 trav-elled across Austria to Italy, finally settling down in Rome, in which he made a successful career in painting, one that gave him a good deal of finan-cial security. In the Roman suburbs he built a large villa that actually had two studios; one was grand enough to receive visitors in, while in the other he did his painting. The Roman studio of Henryk Siemiradzki was important as a place in which the aristocrats of the time and people from the social and cultural life of Rome met, Polish, but other painters, particularly from Slavic countries.

Detalj slike Krajolik iz rimske Campagne / Detail of the painting Landscape from the Roman Campagna

The majority of his paintings have subjects from the history of Ancient Rome, for which his life in Rome was more than useful. His paintings were deeply linked with the Roman Campagna and the province of Naples, in that he drew from them authentic archaeological details, as well as the spe-cifically intense light characteristic of southern and central Italy. One of his most successful paintings, The Triumph of Venus of 1892, kept in the National Museum in Warsaw, excellently illustrates the way in which Siemiradzki researched into and used an-cient architecture in which he placed some mytho-logical scene irradiated by the light that he had experienced at first hand.6 At that time Siemiradzki was an on the whole lauded painter, because of his painting skills stemming from the academic aes-thetic, requiring from the artist that he transmit-ted in his works historical and literary messages of an eclectic character. Artistic talent and skill here were a means for achieving the objective. The art of painting was admired and much valued. Among other writers, his contemporary, the Nobel Prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) wrote en-thusiastically about the painting Sword Dance that Siemiradzki had painted between 1879 and 1880:

“No one can paint like Siemiradzki.... Only someone who has seen with his own eyes the surroundings of Rome and the Bay of Naples can understand who much truth and spirit there is in this land-scape, in this blue, in this iridescence of blues and pinks and in this limpid distance. If this canvas were a landscape in which not a single living be-ing brought to life the silence and the emptiness – even then it would be a masterpiece.”7

One of the key works of Henryk Siemiradzki is the painting Nero’s Torches of 1876, which achieved an incredible reputation in its time and which Siemiradzki later gifted to Krakkow, where it be-came the foundation for founding of the national museum in the Cloth Hall.8

His painting constitutes a cosmopolitan cur-rent in academicism in the 19th century, using the experience of plein-air painting, which enabled it detailed realistic observation and the recording of individual details. His works are full of luminist

effects based on first-hand observation in nature, but painted and composed in the studio where to ancient, Biblical or mythological settings he added figures in unnatural theatrical poses, and thus cre-ated artificial figurative compositions.

And yet Henryk Siemiradzki, fascinated by the atmosphere of the Italian landscape, did paint a small number of plein-air landscapes characterised by their immediacy of experience. Important from this point of view is the collection that the Kra-kow National Museum has had since 1980. There are a considerable number of studies, sketches, prints and photographs that show a different painter9, a painter of a freer expression and artis-tic understanding.

During his lifetime Siemiradzki acquired excep-tional fame and many honours. His studio was vis-ited by Italian Queen Margareta and Prince Pavle, brother of the Tsar; he was an honorary member of many academies. His works were shown as great art attractions in the major cities of Europe. The whole of his life, he kept up his links with Poland, which he often visited to show his works at ex-hibitions in Krakow or Warsaw. He also kept up contacts with the Petrograd academy and the city itself, where he also showed his artworks.

Naturally, there were also other voices even then, speaking critically about his works, referring to some of the negative phenomena in his paint-ing, such as the vacuous skill in painting just for the sake of achieving luminist effects. Siemiradzki did indeed have enormous skill in painting and composing figurative compositions using idealised or typical figures, putting them into similarly ide-alised exteriors or interiors. Thus as early as the 1880s, when a change in the understanding of the concept of art was already felt, gradually a diamet-rically opposite attitude to the painting of Henry Siemiradzki appeared, and he was totally forgotten soon after his death, even in Poland. Only in recent times when academic painting of the 19th century has been re-examined and defined as one of the ways of painting in the history of art, which had its own place in the development of painting, and thus many oeuvres, like that of Henryk Siemiradzki,

have been revalued, and put in the place that re-alistically belongs to them.

The name of Henryk Siemiradzki is mentioned in Croatian art history in connection with certain painters of the country who were among the first to attend the Munich academy. Above all his name is connected with those of Ferdo Quiquerez and Iso Kršnjavi. Quiquerez met him in Munich, and they met up again in Rome and in the Roman Cam-pagna, deepening their friendship. Study journeys in central and southern Italy were then the regular practice of painters. The acquaintance of painters from different countries could be made, and in-formal socialising and working together was com-mon. For Siemiradzki this was still simpler since he lived in Rome and could easily go off to Sorrento or Capri and the surroundings of Naples, where he met the Croatian artists. Kršnjavi writes in his Autoobituary10 (in which he wrote about himself in the third person) of how he met and later kept company with Siemiradzki and worked in his studio.

The Modern Gallery has three studies of Siemir-adzki done while he was staying in the Roman Campagna and in the surroundings of Naples. The painting Landscape from the Roman Campagna, done in 1874, is a not very large study in oils. In the foreground is a rocky cliff behind which winds a bluish grey river. In the distance the green and earth coloured planes of the lowlands blend with the grey-blue sky and thus carry on the initial colourist interchange of warm and cold tones. It was painted directly in nature, in the light of day, with free brush strokes, without any subsequent working up. The visual language is reduced to its essence, without any burdening of the paint-ing with unnecessary descriptions of details. The decorative luminist effects gave way to natural light. This is the manner of painting adopted by painters absorbed with thinking about the essence of painting and visual art. The motif is a simple, unpretentious little bit of nature, of the kind that would be chosen by a painter of the realist manner who rejected academic order and rigour.

At that time Siemiradzki often travelled to Sorrento and Naples, seeking a villa for his family,

and once again found himself in the company of Ferdo Quiquerez. The Quiquerez Landscape from the Roman Campagna is from the same year, 1874. And it is painted from the same spot as Siemir-adzki’s. It is just the same motif: the rock in the foreground is located in the right hand corner, be-hind which winds the river, going on beyond it the earth planes of the landscape that in the distance blend in with the bluish surface of the sky. The same motif, the same colourist assignment.

Study of a Woman’s Head was also painted in 1874. The profile of a female figure is a typical ide-alised depiction of a woman of the kind that we find in the big figurative compositions of Henryk Siemiradzki. One of them is the Roman Idyll, paint-ed around 1885, kept in the National Museum in Warsaw. In fact this study of a woman is most like the figure of the young woman in this picture. The central figure of a young woman, who is smiling as she sits at her leisure and revels in the decadently easy life, is the same type of idealised, exalted fe-male beauty that Siemiradzki never stopped admir-ing and tirelessly painted. The Gallery’s picture is an incomplete study and is one of the versions of this idealised figure, in this case with a serious expres-sion on her face. The warm colouring and shadows of daylight are the basic artistic tasks. The golden yellow surface of the scarf that ties the hair up into a typically elegant chignon and the surface of the neckline of the dress alternate with the pink hem of the other part of the neckline and the cheek of the girl in the light flesh tones of face and neck. In the big figurative compositions this painterly pon-dering gives way to decoration and luminist effects.

The picture Landscape with Figures from Antiq-uity of 1877 is the only picture of Henryk Siemir-adzki the Gallery possesses that is signed, with date and place given. This fact places it among finished pictures. Occasionally he painted little landscapes of Italian provinces that had none of the studio finishing and forcing. Siemiradzki was here primarily interested in the landscape, while the figures were of less importance, merely defin-ing the period, since they are dressed in the garb of the Ancient Romans. They would have been

added in the Roman studio. The stone bridge, the rock and the architecture are painted in various shades of grey, as is the tree that is placed on the slope above the bridge. The big dark green tree that casts a noontime shade closes off the col-ouristically elegant composition. The scene is not overwhelmed by the decorative details in which the figurative compositions abound. Siemiradzki painted concrete archaeological, architectural and landscape motifs, and when needed, would fit them into figurative compositions. We can find the stone bridge from this picture in a different landscape in the figurative composition Amulet of 1890 in the museum in Novgorod.

In this presentation of three of the Gallery’s paintings of Henryk Siemiradzki, we have cracked open the door to an acquaintance with a little bit of the oeuvre of one of the most significant Polish painters of the 19th century. Although they are not the grand works for which he is best known, they are works that are important in the sense of the working method, and are also indications of a more modern understanding of painter within a highly academic oeuvre. The paintings are also im-portant as context for and indicator of the general tendency of artists of the time, to which Croatian painters trained at the academy in Munich also in part belonged.

Dajana Vlaisavljevic

1 Dr Ivan Ružić (1849–1915), lawyer, Catholic activist and member of the Party of Rights.

2 In the inventory book it says “dar odličnika neimenovanog rodoljuba 1889” – moguće je da je ovu sliku Krajolik iz rimske Campagne kupio i poklonio također dr. Ivan Ružić.

“gift of an unnamed excellency an unnamed patriot 1889” and so it is possible that this painting, Landscape from the Roman Campagna, was also donated by Dr Ružić.

3 Peredvizhniki, (Travellers, Itinerants) was an art movement founded in Petrograd in 1870 as reaction to the rigour of the academic manner of painting, dedication to art. In line with its principles of the democratisation of art, they organised travelling exhibitions to make art more accessible to the ordinary people.

4 Wiesława Górska: Henryk Siemiradzki, Warszawa, 2007, p. 36

5 Ewa Micke-Broniarek: Henryk Siemiradzki, http://culture.pl/pl/tworca/henryk-siemiradzki, accessed 20.9.2016.

6 For more see: Claudie Albore Livadie, Witold Dobrowski: L’ antica Baia in un’ opera di Henryk Siemiradzki u www.academia.edu/66 100 40/Lantica_Baia_in_unopera_di_Henrik_Siemiradzki, accessed 2.8.2016.

7 Wiesława Górska: Henryk Siemiradzki, Warszawa, 2007, p. 65, from the translation into Croatian of Đurđica Čilić Škeljo

8 The Cloth Hall is one of the best known buildings in Krakow. The medieval building was renovated in Renaissance style in the 16th century. Since 1879 it has housed the National Gallery of 19th century Art, part of the National Museum.

9 In 1980, on the occasion of a donation of Siemiradzki’s works, an exhibition was held with its accompanying catalogue “HENRYK SIEMIRADZKI jakiego nie znamy” [A Henryk Siemiradzki that we do not know]” Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Krakow, 1980.

10 “Coming back in autumn 1874 to Rome he met the worthy Polish painter Siemiradzki, in whose great studio he painted the whole year. He also studied archaeology with Siemiradzki.” (S. was just then painting his huge painting Nero’s Torches.) “In 1875 Kršnjavi took a little studio in the house where Siemiradzki worked and painted there all winter long, keeping company with Siemiradzki and getting good advice from him.” Autonekrolog/ Autoobituary, in Iso Kršnjavi iza kulisa hrvatske politike, Zagreb, 1986, p.2

Studija ženske glave (Talijanka) / Study of a Woman’s Head (Italian Woman), 1874.

U fokusu:Henryk Siemiradzki, Krajolik, 1929., ulje/platno kaširano na ljepenku, 23 x 36,5 cm, Mg-143Zatečeno stanje slike:Slikani sloj onečišćen je slojevima nečistoća i di-jelom preslikan tijekom prijašnjeg restauratorskog zahvata. Na rubovima umjetnine i na više dijelova po licu umjetnine slikani sloj je zakitan i retuširan (vidljivo na snimci UV fluorescencije) te velikim di-jelom prelazi na originalni oslik. Mjestimično je sli-kani sloj vrlo krhak i oslabljene su veze s platnenom podlogom. Prilikom tog prijašnjeg restauratorskog zahvata umjetnina je grubo očišćena, što je rezulti-ralo oguljenom bojom na više mjesta na umjetnini. Platneni nosač tom je prilikom kaširan na ljepenku. Ukrasni okvir umjetnine je raskliman i infestiran cr-votočinom, onečišćen površinskom nečistoćom te velikim dijelom po oštećenjima prebojan broncom.Konzervatorsko-restauratorski radovi: Radovi na slici započeli su istražnim snimanjem slike pod kosim svjetlom i snimanjem detalja ošte-ćenja pod velikim povećanjem te snimanjem UV fluourescencije da se vide točna mjesta preslika na licu umjetnine. Nakon toga oštećenja na umjetnini parcijalno su podlijepljena otopinom Plextola 498 i destilirane vode u omjeru 50 : 50 %. Uslijedile su probe uklanjanja nečistoća s lica umjetnine pod mikroskopom te je uklonjena površinska nečistoća pomoću otopine Triammonium citrata i destilirane vode (Aqua purificata pH 6.0) u koncentraciji od 5 % što je rezultiralo pH otopinom 7.0. Nečisto-ća akumulirana iz zraka s poleđine slike uklonjena je suhim čišćenjem Wishab spužvicom. Preslikani dijelovi slikanog sloja uklonjeni su Aceton gelom i gelom po recepturi Paula Cremonessija: 50 ml Petroleum Etera, 50 ml denaturiranog etilnog al-kohola, 20 ml Ethomeena C-25, 2 grama Carbopola EZ-2, 10 ml destilirane vode.

Manja oštećenja ispunjena su celuloznim kitom i retuširana Golden akrilnim bojama te Maimeri Re-staurom. Završno lakiranje slike izvršeno je mješavi-nom Talens mat i sjajnog laka. Ukrasni okvir nakon dezinsekcije gama zračenjem na Institutu Ruđer Bošković stolarski je saniran, zapunjena su oštećenja od crva i retuširana je pozlata.

In Focus:Henryk Siemiradzki: landscape 1929, oil/canvas, mounted on pasteboard, 23 x 36.5 cm, Mg 143The as found condition of the painting:The paint film has been soiled with layers of dirt and was partially overpainted during a previous restoration operation. On the edges of the artwork and in several places on the face the paint film has been filled and retouched (visible in UVF imaging), which has in great part passed over onto the original painting. In places the paint film is very fragile and the bond with the canvas support has weakened. During the previous restoration operation, the artwork was roughly cleaned, resulting in paint peeling off in several places. The can-vas support was then mounted on pasteboard. The decorative framework is rickety and is infested with woodworm, and been soiled with surface dirt, and has been largely overpainted in bronze over the dam-aged areas.Conservation-restoration operations:Works on the painting started with an investigative im-aging of the picture under oblique lighting and taking details of the damage at great enlargements and imag-ing in UVF, to see the exact places where the artwork has been overpainted. After that the damaged places were partially consolidated with a 50%/50% solution of Plextol 498 and distilled water. After that came probes at removing the dirt from the face of the painting un-der the microscope, and the surface dirt was removed with a solution of triammonium citrate and distilled water (Aqua purificata pH 6.0), in a 5% concentration, which resulted in a solution pH of 7.0. The overpainted parts of the paint film were removed with Acetone gel and Paul Cremonessi’s gel: 50 ml Petroleum Etera, 50 ml denatured ethyl alcohol, 20 ml Ethomeen C-25, 2 g Carbopol EZ-2 and 10 ml distilled water.

Small items of damage were filled with cellulose filler and retouched with Golden acylic paints and Maimeri Restauro. The final varnishing was carried out with a mixture of Talens matte and glossy varnishes. The decorative frame has been disinfected at Ruđer Bošković Institute by gamma rays and has also been fixed by carpenter. Small items of damege caused by worms were filled with cellulose filler and gilded with gold powder.

Petra Kursar

AUTORICA IZLOŽBEDajana Vlaisavljević

ODNOSI S JAVNOŠĆULana Šetka

RESTAURATORICA SLIKaPetra Kursar, Marija Kalmeta i Petra Richter

TEHNIČKI POSTAVIvan Butorac

Modernoj galeriji ostvarenje ove izložbe i kataloga financijskim potporama omogućili su: Ministarstvo kulture Republike Hrvatske, Grad Zagreb i Privredna banka Zagreb, glavni pokrovitelj Moderne galerije.Zahvaljujemo.

IZLOŽBA IZ CIKLUSA U FOKUSU

Henryk Siemiradzki (novogrudok kraj Harkova, 24. 10. 1848. – Strazałkowo kraj Częstahowe, 23. 8. 1902.)Moderna galerija 20. X. – 4. XII. 2016.

EDICIJAU fokusu

NAKLADNIKModerna galerija, Andrije Hebranga 1, Zagrebwww.moderna-galerija.hr

ZA NAKLADNIKA I UREDNIŠTVOBiserka Rauter Plančić

TEKSTDajana Vlaisavljević

FOTOGRAFIJEGoran Vranić

LEKTURAMateja Fabijanić

PRIJEVOD NA ENGLESKIGraham McMaster

GRAFIČKO OBLIKOVANJE I TISAKArt studio Azinović, Zagreb

Naklada200 primjeraka

Tiskanje dovršeno u listopadu 2016.

ISBN 978-953-348-034-3

© Moderna galerija, Zagreb, HR

Osim citata kratkih ulomaka u svrhu recenzije, nijedan dio ovog kataloga ne smije biti reproduciran, pohranjen, u bilo kojem obliku ili bilo kojim putem, elektroničkim, mehaničkim, snimanjem, fotokopiranjem ili drugačije, bez prethodnog pisanog dopuštenja nakladnika.

Snimka UV flourescencije umjetnine prije konzervatorsko-restauratorskih radovaPhoto taken under UV fluorescence light, before conservation-restoration operations

M O d e r N a g a l e r I j a , a N d r I j e H e b r a N g a 1 , Z ag r e bw w w. M O d e r N a - g a l e r I j a . H r

N a j ava I Z lOž a ba U FoKUSU

U fokusu – naziv je ciklusa izložbi u Modernoj galeriji u kojem kustosi ukazuju na posebno važ-na djela iz galerijskog fundusa koja nisu dovolj-no ili uopće nisu poznata javnosti. Do sada su održane dvije izložbe: 2015. predstavljena je slika bugarsko-francuskog slikara Georgesa Papazoffa (1894.– 1972.) Svjetlonoše-lucifer iz 1929. te u pro-ljeće 2016. slike Fransa Masereela (1889.– 1972.) Luka Boulogne i Mornar i lađa, obje iz 1929. godine.

Ciklus nastavljamo jesenjom izložbom na kojoj predstavljamo tri slike poljskog slikara Henryka Siemiradzkog (1843.– 1902.) Krajolik iz rimske Campagne iz 1874., Studija ženske glave (Talijan-ka) također iz 1874. te Pejzaž s likovima iz antike iz 1877. koje pridonose kontekstualizaciji opusa naših slikara Ferde Quiquereza (1845.– 1893.) i Ise Kršnjavog (1845.– 1927).

Izlaganjem djela ovih umjetnika u okviru stal-nog postava Moderne galerije, izložbi hrvatske likovne umjetnosti modernog doba pridajemo dodanu vrijednost rijetko viđenim, a vrijednim djelima stranih majstora koji su zastupljeni u zbir-kama Moderne galerije. Istovremeno koristimo priliku podsjetiti na više od osamdeset godina djelovanja Moderne galerije na Zrinjevcu koja tijekom svih tih godina – zahvaljujući bogatstvu svojih zbirki – čini središnji nacionalni muzej li-jepih umjetnosti modernog doba i predstavlja nezaobilazno kulturno središte Hrvatske.

Autorica dosadašnjih izložbi je Dajana Vlai-savljević, voditeljica Zbirke slikarstva 19. stoljeća i Zbirke stranih majstora.

In Focus is the name of a Modern Gallery exhibi-tion cycle in which curators draw attention to particularly important works from the holdings of the Gallery that are insufficiently known to the public, or even totally unknown. So far, two exhibitions have been held. In 2015 we showed the 1929 painting Les Eclaireurs of the Bulgarian-French painter Georges Papazoff (1894–1972) and in spring 2016 two paintings of Frans Masereel (1889–1972), Port of Boulogne and Sailor and Ship, both of 1929. We are continuing the cycle with an autumn exhibition at which we shall present three paintings of the Polish painter Henryk Siemiradzki (1943–1902): Landscape from the Ro-man Campagna (1874), Study of a Woman’s Head (Italian Woman) also of 1874 and Landscape with Figures from Antiquity (1877), which make an important contribution to the contextualisa-tion of the oeuvre of the Croatian painters Ferdo Quiquerez (1845–1893) and Iso Kršnjavi (1845–1927). By the act of exhibiting the works of these artists in the context of the permanent display of the Modern Gallery, we impart additional value to the exhibition of Croatian art of the modern period with seldom seen and yet valuable works of foreign masters who are represented in the col-lections of the Modern Gallery. At the same time we take the opportunity to recall the more than eighty years of the work of the Modern Gallery in Zrinjevac, which all these years, thanks to the richness of its collections, has been the central national museum of modern fine arts and is a not-to-be-missed cultural centre in Croatia.

All the exhibitions to date have been devised by Dajana Vlaisavljević, manager of the 19th cen-tury painting collection and the collection of foreign masters.