Janina Żemojtel, BLACK LAKE IN THE TATRA MOUNTAINS, 1987

60.5 x 90 cm - oil on fiberboard

signed lower right: J Żemojtel 87
on the reverse, lower left: 75 [in a circle] B OSSOLINEUM | Z-

♣ Droit de suite: ♣ An additional fee will be added to the purchase price pursuant to the right of the artist and her heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994, on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Janina Żemojtel (Vilnius 1931–Wrocław 2004) graduated from the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Wrocław in 1956. Initially, she painted nudes and still lifes, drawing on the aesthetics of Post-Impressionism and Cubism. She also became interested in experiments at the intersection of material and gestural painting. Examples of such explorations include the series *Dżonki* and *Dźwigi* (1960–61), in which she combined glazes with an emphasis on texture, using, among other techniques, thick layers of paint and collage elements. The *Instynkty* series, created around 1965, demonstrates the artist’s departure from legible figurative and representational forms. She began with studies of the human figure, moving on to an almost abstract composition featuring prominent patches of pure color. The monumental nature of the figures she depicts and her ability to freely direct a broad stream of color place these works among the most interesting achievements of Polish New Figuration. Based on *Dictionary of Polish Painters*, Vol. 2, Arkady, Warsaw 2001, p. 420, M.K.Ł.