Wlodzimierz TETMAJER (1862-1923), Mother of God of the Herbs - The Ordination of Herb,1907

oil, canvas; 107.5 x 150 cm;
Signed and dated p. d.: WTetmayer MCMVII.
The painting is accompanied by an opinion by Mrs. Irena Ball.

Provenance:
- The artist's studio,
- Wladyslaw Trepek Collection,
- Wladyslaw Wścieklicy Collection,
- Collection of the heirs of the Wścieklica family.

Exhibited, mentioned, reproduced:
- Edmund Zegota Cięglewicz, "From the Studio of Wlod. Termajer," in The World, 1908, no. 2, pp. 4-6 (as: "The Feast of Our Lady of the Herbs"),
- Catalog of the exhibition "ZERO", Cracow, October 1908, p. 6 (identified with item 44, included as "Mother of God of the Herbs"),
- Lviv Society of Fine Arts, 1908 - identified with the work "Święcenie ziela", (l. Jozef Dużyk, "Sława Panie Włodzimierzu, Opowieść o
Włodzimierz Tetmajer", 2nd expanded edition, Cracow 1998 , p. 151),
- 5th Annual Exhibition, Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, Warsaw, December-January 1908-1909, item 210 as "Mother of God of the Green", repr;
- Report of the Committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in the Kingdom of Poland for 1908, p. 18 (as "Our Lady of the Green") and p. 28 - "List of
of Works of Art Acquired from the Exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts by Private Persons",
- "Tygodnik Ilustrowany", 1911 sem. ii. p. 687 repr. - as "The ordination of herbs",
- Tadeusz Ewaryst Jaroszyński [text], Jan Krywult [selection of works], "Album of Polish Painting," Warsaw, M. Arct [1913], pp. 151-155, repr. - as "Matka
Boska Zielna.
- "Catalogue of paintings and sculptures owned by the citizens of Lodz," Lodz [Heinzl Palace], June 1916 - as "The Feast of Herbs";
- Ludwik Grajewski, "Bibliography of illustrations in Polish magazines of the 19th and early 20th centuries. (until 1918)", Warsaw 1972, p. 290 - as "Święcenie ziół",
- Beata Pranke, "The current of peasantry in the works of Stanisław Radziejowski, Ludwik Stasiak, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Wincenty Wodzinowski and Kacper
Żelechowski", Neriton Publishing House, Warsaw 2003, as Matka Boska Zielna (TZSP) and Święcenie ziela (TPSP Lwów), repr,
- Dariusz Kacprzak, "Collections of the Promised Land, art collections of the Łódź bourgeoisie in the years 1880-1939", National Institute of Museum and Monument Protection, Warsaw 2015, p. 520, item 1778 - as "Matka Boska Zielna", "Święcone. The Feasting of the Herbs" (wrong dating of the painting).

"Włodzimierz Tetmajer's paintings include easel paintings, numerous illustrations and monumental paintings for churches near Krakow.
His easel paintings are primarily a personal illustration of the life of the Polish countryside, i.e. Bronowice Małe, where he lived, which he knew best and from where he drew motifs for his paintings. He drew not only motifs, because in his paintings we recognize the facial features of those closest to him.
In the case of "Our Lady of the Herbs", the priest is the catechist from Czernichów - Father Władysław Jelonek, on the right a young woman in a white bonnet looking directly at the viewer is the painter's wife, Anna Tetmajerowa, whom he portrayed many times, while the boy holding a hat is his younger son Tadeusz.
Tetmajer's work is a very distinctive artistic statement, avoiding positivist ideology or Young Poland spin, but emphasizing the dynamism, joy and beauty of rural life. The artist painted quickly, laid down paint achieving a characteristic texture, closed the composition with a
diagonally or in a broken frame, he based his color scheme primarily on red adjacent to green, with beiges and whites added. He usually overexposed landscapes and genre compositions with the sun, introducing typical patches of bright yellow into the painting.
Tetmajer's best paintings date from the 1890s and early 20th century, i.e. to the period of World War I, when the artist became involved in political and independence work and stopped his artistic activity. The painting "Our Lady of the Herbs," also known under the title "The Ordination of Herb."
painted in 1907, has all the characteristics of Wlodzimierz Tetmajer's painting, and is a museum-class painting, one of the best paintings in his oeuvre, as indicated, among other things, by the rich literature on the painting."
[excerpts from the opinion of Ms. Irena Bal].