Drawings of Bolesław Cybis. Embodiment of hidden idea

For the second time, DESA Unicum Auction House presents you with a project dedicated to the art of an outstanding artist - Bolesław Cybis. The great and still growing popularity of the newly discovered creator is evidenced by the huge success of our auction "Bolesław Cybis" which took place in March 2020. This time, our offer includes solely drawings, which were made with the use of sanguine, pencil, carbon, gouache, and watercolor paint.
 

Our project "Bolesław Cybis. Pochwała rysunku" ("Bolesław Cybis. In Praise of Drawing") includes twenty-three drawings, meticulously selected from the artist's rich oeuvre. The title is supposed to suggest the applied medium, as well as capture the essence of Cybis' complex and remarkably original art. It refers to the Renaissance idea of disegno, that is drawing, understood as an idea appearing in the mind of the creator. The art of drawing and the artistry that comes with it accompanied Cybis practically throughout his whole career. Moreover, the artist developed his individual style under the influence of the unique professor Tadeusz Pruszkowski. Our offer presents you with a diverse selection of works created during the interwar period. 

The works included in the offer were put in a chronological order, which, on the one hand, allows you to trace the changes that took place in the artist's oeuvre. On the other, it shows the complexity and diversity of his artistic legacy. Our auction provides you with the possibility of purchasing very early, unique works from the initial period of Cybis' career. The composition "Turkish Woman Sitting on the Stairs" as well as nudes made with the use of watercolors and sanguine were created during the artist's stay in Istanbul. It was there that he expanded his contacts with the creators associated with the Russian avant-garde, which had been initiated already during his academic years in Kharkiv. It was also there that the young artist's sense of aesthetics began to crystallize. The aforementioned drawing of a Turkish woman is an expression of Cybis' great interest in the currents of avant-garde art, as evidenced by the synthesis of shapes and a relatively expressive approach to form. The nudes, on the other hand, are excellent examples of anatomical studies, which Cybis continued to make even after graduating from Kharkiv school.

Most of Cybis' drawings were created in Warsaw. When Cybis arrived there in 1923, he quickly found himself under the influence of the outstanding pedagogue and painter Tadeusz Pruszkowski. It was Pruszkowski that told him the words that defined his future career, "Paint however you want, as long as it is good." Jokingly called "Prusz" by his students, the professor instilled in his pupils a love for art of old masters and a desire for technological experiments, giving them full freedom of action at the same time. There was only one condition – excellent artistry. The legendary open-air paintings in Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula River constituted an integral part of studying at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. It was there that the young adepts of art created their own, self-contained, magical world under the supervision of Pruszkowski. This small but charming town became a stage for a phenomenal spectacle that took place in Kazimierz every summer. It seems very likely that some of the drawings presented at the auction were created in the town at that time. They featured studies of trees and the interiors of taverns. However, these works, as well as the "Girl in Folk Costume", could also refer to Cybis' trip to the region of Łowicz, which took place at the turn of 1925 and 1926.

Another collection of works comes from 1930, when Cybis made, perhaps, his most important and interesting artistic journey. The painter went on an impressive Grand Tour around Europe and North Africa. Together with his wife Maria and his friend, also a painter, Jan Zamoyski, he visited Vienna, continental Italy, as well as Sicily. They made it to the north coast of Africa. Cybis' drawings are records of these exotic voyages. We can assume that these pictures were created as spontaneous studies. The painter recorded the reality surrounding him and observed with curiosity the people he encountered on his way, a good example of which is the portrait of a black woman, a resident of Tripoli. The causal views of the rocky coastline in Italy or the monumental outline of one of the Norman castles in Sicily are also worth the attention. In addition, our offer includes two exceptional projects carried out during the artist's work on the "Polish Sky" plafond in the auditorium of one of the secondary schools in Gdańsk (Gimnazjum Polskiej Macierzy Szkolnej). They testify to Cybis' interest in monumental painting, which came to the fore in the 1930s.