Kolekcja | 09.09.2015 The lithographs presented here (Frontispice and Lambs! Hams!, i.e. Easter Saturday street market in the “Za Żelazną Bramą” district of Warsaw) are taken from a collection published in 1841, entitled ‘Album of Twelve Warsaw Zinc-prints and Drawings’. The Album was created by Jan Feliks Piwarski, a custodian of the Engravings Room of the Public Library in Warsaw, a painter, a graphic artist and a teacher. A person of merit who rendered great service to education in difficult post-partition period in Poland, he remained in a close relationship with Stanisław Kostka Potocki, the then Wilanów owner and the founder of the local Palace Museum. It was on Kostka Potocki’s initiative that Piwarski became the conservator of the collection of prints purchased from Stanisław August Poniatowski’s heirs for the Engravings Room of the Public Library. His task was to systemize and to catalogue the collections and to put them through a scientific examination. Stanisław Kostka Potocki gave Piwarski his full support in the execution of the task, both with his extensive knowledge and financial resources.Jan Feliks Piwarski not only successfully completed his job as conservator of the collections gathered in the Engravings Room; he himself tried his hand at graphic arts. His lithographs (and zinc-prints) mainly focused on Poland-related topics, thus making him one of the forerunners in that field. Good examples of his output are provided by the lithographs presented here, which depict familiar scenes from the 19th-c. everyday life in Warsaw. They are the title page of the Album and the plate entitled Lambs! Hams!.
The former features a centrally-placed cart bearing the Album’s title; around it we spot a large gallery of characters typical for contemporary Warsaw. There is a man carrying a basket filled with bread loaves on his back; another one with a plait of garlic around his shoulders; then a bearded Jew climbing the cart crowned with a box full of geese. The picture is complemented with a little barefooted Warsaw rascal, hanging from the cart and looking mischievously in the viewer’s direction. A plate around his shoulders contains the titles of the upcoming lithographs including the following: Lambs! Hams!
The scene captures Easter Saturday street market in the "Za Żelazną Bramą" district of Warsaw. A young salesman in the foreground provides a clear confirmation of the Easter season; on his head he is carrying a huge tray filled with little figures of Easter lambs. In the background the viewer’s eyes meet a collection of curiosities and attractions found in the capital street market on a festive day. We see a fat merchant encouraging to purchase a piece of boiled beef or a ring of sausage; next a peasant woman holding a piglet and sitting with her child in the right corner of the frame; further on there are stalls loaded with all goods. Particular attention should be paid to the clothes worn by these ordinary Warsaw people as they are rendered with precision and insight. All these elements contribute to creating an extraordinary scene, the more valuable that it is devoid of any idealization and thoroughly authentic.
Marta Gołąbek