Grodzka Gate in Lublin

The Lublin portfolio is one of the mature graphic works of Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936), who devoted over thirty years of his artistic activity to graphic art, abandoning oil painting on its behalf. He became interested in the graphic medium around 1900. Already as a mature artist, he began to analyse the technical possibilities of etching, aquatint, algraphy, fluorophores and, above all, lithography. Thanks to the similar effects of a lithographic print and drawing and painting, and the possibility of experimentation, which best suited Wyczółkowski's preferences and temperament, lithography became his favourite technique. He published cycles of graphic works in low-circulation folders devoted to the landscape and architecture of Polish cities. In panoramic views, shots of historic buildings and meticulously reconstructed architectural details he combined documentary skill with an extraordinary passion for individual feeling of architecture. The Lublin portfolio is one of the most beautiful graphic portraits of the city, which the artist supplemented with three boards unrelated to urban architecture. These include two versions of Sosenki and Stara lipa in Piotrawin. Wyczółkowski prepared the sketches during his stay in Lublin in 1918. Composed of seventeen auto-lithographic sheets, the portfolio was published a year later in Krakow in twenty copies. After printing the edition planned by the artist, the lithographic stones were destroyed, which in Wyczółkowski's case was a frequent practice and gave his prints a unique character.

In Sheet 9, which shows Grodzka Gate from the side of Zamkowa Street, Wyczółkowski departs from monochromatic representation and introduces colour, which, however, remained subordinate to the rules of graphics and drawing. With the help of drawing the artist creates the skeleton of the composition, deprives it of unnecessary details, outlining only the architectural divisions and some of the most important details. The character of the sheet is determined by the way the composition is framed, showing the gate in close-up, with a fragment of Grodzka Street visible through the passage opening, and the atmosphere of the place located on the border of the Jewish district and the Old Town captured by the artist, including hastily drawn figures of passers-by.

Anna Hałata