Andrzej Wróblewski (1927-1957), TREES OF WINTER. LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION

watercolor/paper, 29.6 x 41.9 cm
signed in pencil p.d.: AWróblewski

ORIGIN:
- private collection, Warsaw
- Avoiding intermediate states. Andrzej Wróblewski (1927-1957), concept and scholarly editing by Magdalena Ziolkowska and Wojciech Grzybala, Andrzej Wróblewski Foundation, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Warsaw - Ostfildern 2014, cat. no. 355, repr. p. 397
Andrzej Wróblewski managed to paint so much in his short life of thirty years that he could bestow his work on many. Everyone remembers the famous Shots, Railroads, Chauffeur. But it is also worth pausing to look at more modest paintings, invariably marked by drama, yet full of vital, creative energy. Desirous of showing in his paintings what he feels and desires, shaped by his wartime experiences and at the same time full of enthusiasm for building a new world, the artist rebelled against the aesthetic assumptions of his professors. He first manifested his rebellion by turning to modernity, abstraction, but soon enthusiastically took up the challenges of socialist realism. He actively joined the organization of the 1948 Modern Art exhibition in Krakow, Poland, also writing an exhibition guide for the workers. It sounded like a manifesto of youth: "[...] we are not hiding anything. We believe in you that you are diligent and will choose well. And this choice of yours we are able to show with a picture - a happy and clear picture." Disillusioned with Socialist Realism and searching for his own style, he was able to express just as much in his innovative treatment of form as in his studies of nature, landscapes and views of the Tatra Mountains. He often derived abstract shortcuts from a series of realistic mountain sketches.
The watercolor study of a winter landscape exhibits most of the characteristics of Wróblewski's painting. Painted with confident brushstrokes, the expanse of snow, sheet of frozen water, trees and low bushes create an atmosphere of emptiness and silence. But this view is punctuated by a dramatic, dark, leafless branch in the foreground. Like a shout.