Sonatina

Artur Grottger is mainly remembered as a creator of patriotic drawing cycles that, later often reproduced, became a part of national art canon. Among such works we can mention the cycles Warszawa I [Warsaw I] from 1861, Warszawa II [Warsaw II] from 1862 or Polonia from 1863. They reflected the mood before the outbreak of the January Uprising in 1863. They recreated the tragic events and related repressions by the invader. They constituted the topos of martyrological iconography and were often used to create a national liberation identity. In 1866 Grottger began work on his War cycle, which was to be exhibited at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1867. After arriving in Paris, he established contact with Jean-Louis Gérôm and Polish emigration concentrated around the Lambert Hotel. However, due to tuberculosis, he could not continue his work. He decided to leave for Pau in the south of France. In 1967, he went to Amélie-les-Bains, where he died. Sonatina (other names: Ślepy cygan grajek [The Blind Gypsy Player,], Ślepy cygan z dzieckiem żebrzącym [The Blind Gypsy with a Beggar Child] from 1866 (acquired for the collection of the Museum in Szczecin in 1948) is one of the works showing the poverty of the inhabitants of Galicia. In the year when the work was created Grottger was in Śniatynka near Drohobycz and other neighbouring towns. The gouache was a part of Książki [Books] (Duży Album [Big Album]), which was dedicated to Wanda Monné, the artist's fiancée. In the centre of the composition, there is a group of figures - a beggar man playing the violin and a girl standing next to him. They are shown against the background of a wall illuminated by light. Everything is rendered in monochromatic sepia colours. The artist went to great lengths to create a performance that would evoke sympathy as the girl's concerned gaze is mainly responsible for evoking it. The play of light and sound (evoked by the way the violin is played) intensifies the power of the melancholic mood.

Beata Małgorzata Wolska