STANISŁAW
BOHUSZ-SIESTRZEŃCEWICZ

(1869–1927)

The realisation of the presentation funded
as part of the programme EU Interreg Lietuva-Polska
Project: LT-PL-5R-389

Polish painters. In fact, the composition of On the market, which is the quintessence of the artist’s style and interests, is significantly influenced by the Polish painting of the Munich School.
On the Market is a dynamic and open composition, which is only partly limited by the buildings at the back. The foreshortenings used in the piece: the horses and carriages shown from the back and the multitude of diagonal lines drawn in different intersecting directions create a particularly dynamic effect. Everything here is movement which brims with life and delights with expression.
This result is intensified by the painting style and the texture of the work. The brush movement is unrestricted, brisk and full of energy. Its trace is short and wide, running in different directions. The texture is rich thanks to impastos (areas of thick paint) in the foreground section of the earth. There is also a section which is painted more subtly, half-transparently, using glaze - the carriages surrounded by billowing dust.
The painting is colouristically harmonious. It is kept in a narrow colour scheme with a wide tonal variety of each colour. There are streaks (small patches of colour) which enliven the canvas with colourful accents, attracting and keeping the viewer’s attention. The hay on the carts looks golden in the rays of the invisible sun which is reflected in the horse’s behind, the yellows of the sandy dust and the muddy ground. The smudge of red traced along the Jew with an umbrella and a fragment of red ribbon plaited into the rising horse’s mane add a pink shade to the wall of the building and they are reflected with violets and purples in the sand under the horse’s hooves. The pale blue of the sky lays itself with an intense patch of saturated colour on the horse’s harness. The painted surface glistens with light and colour.
The chosen theme together with such an expressive way of showing it, as well as the narrative quality of the depicted scene, its atmosphere and exoticism are distinctive traits of painting created in the Polish circle in Munich.
The composition of carriages passing by in limited space echoes the works by Józef Brandt. The peculiar impression of the noise, chaos and market commotion which is communicated through the painting is also reminiscent of this painter’s work. Still, On the Market is an independent piece by Stanisław Bohusz-Siestrzeńcewicz.