Author: Michal Swider
Title: Walking with a Dalmatian (1996)
Technique: freehand technique, canvas
Dimensions: 100 x 130 cm
Dimensions with frame: 108.5 x 138.5 cm
Signed p.d.: "Swider"
Inscribed on the back: "Michal Swider | Spacer | 1996"
Work description:
Michal Swider was a highly regarded, Cracow-based artist, a master of technology, a contemporary continuator of the traditions of the ancient and Renaissance eras. The works of this painter rarely appear for sale, and each example of his work is an event on the art market.
The offered painting by Michal Swider, "Walking with a Dalmatian," depicts the title scene shown against an almost neutral background of a sparse landscape, which is reminiscent of the background of frescoes imitating fabrics hung on the walls. Interesting here is the division of space into two parts - the bottom is a shimmering batch of grass, while the top is a laconically treated sky. The woman's figure faces to the left, opposite to the direction in which the dog is looking. The model has adopted a graceful pose, holding a delicate leash braided with gold beads with both gloved hands. The figure is dressed in a long gown decorated, as it were, with a lacy, ornamental pattern, her head covered by a golden shawl. The studied facial features refer to the canon of classical proportions. The figure of the dalmatian accompanying the woman, on the other hand, is somewhat simplified and geometrized. The golden brown patches on the beige coat have a decorative, rhythmic arrangement. Their quadrangular form, together with the Byzantine ornament of the woman's outfit, is a kind of echo of the Art Nouveau aesthetic of Gustav Klimt's painting.
Michal Swider's painting is ambivalent in its perfection - economical, yet rich, peculiarly hieratic and monumental despite the generic, after all, everyday subject. In addition to the quality of the representation, it also impresses with its technological layer, excellent drawing and reverently built texture.
Michal Swider's biography is available on the Krakow Auction House website [SEE].
If you would like to sell paintings by Michal Swider, please contact us [LINK].
