Journey

In the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin, there is a painting by Erna Rosenstein entitled Podróż [Journey] from 1946. It is one of the paintings created just after the war. One can notice two tendencies visible in Rosenstein's works of that time, both of which were a response to the tragic experiences of the past years; on the one hand, reminiscences of the war (e.g. Getto i Szabrownicy [Ghetto and Looters] from 1946), and on the other, attempts to overcome difficult experiences and concentrate on looking positively into the future (Pływanie [Swimming] and Kąpiel [Bathing] from 1946). The Szczecin work is an excellent example of this rift, which was associated with people who survived the war. It is a representational canvas with an ambiguous representation in a simplified, flat form. In the upper left corner is the prow of a ship with a chimney. In the foreground, there is a composition with a standing figure painted on the left; on the right, there are unidentified objects in striped (which is also not without meaning) covers. Above, there is an image of a seated woman with a child in her arms and various objects (superstructures, cardboard, ladders) behind her. The whole is enclosed by the plane of the gable wall of the house. We are dealing with vivid colours. The individual elements of the work are not, however, unambiguously positive. They can be read as an image of moving, a move that is not necessarily voluntary. A woman is sitting with a child in her arms, and the packages are packed in stripes. The foreground composition is shaped so that it can also be interpreted as a ship (perhaps even a steamer) surrounded by water, which holds more than just possessions, as it also holds buildings. Parts of the foreground composition have cascaded vertically, which connotes the landscapes of the Holy Land. Although it was only in 1947 that the United Nations agreed to divide Palestine into two states: Jewish and Arab, thinking of these areas as a chance for a place of their own was already alive, and perhaps references to these areas can be found in the work.

Beata Małgorzata Wolska