Auction 129 / Lot 238

Verso: Signed and dated 'BEKSINSKI 1970' on the reverse and with remnants of an adhesive label. Zdzislaw Beksinski was born in 1929 in Sanok, Poland and studied at the Technical University in Krakow. Until the 1970s, Besinksi worked at the Omnibus Factory as a designer and in 1977 he moved with his family to Warsaw. After initial dabbling in photography, Beksinksi eventually turned to painting. His paintings from the 'Fantastic Period' focus on the human figure, usually deformed, bound or maltreated in fantastic settings. Beksinski conjures up unusual landscapes in his works, which are characterised above all by a gloomy figurative imagery and morbid atmosphere. The work offered here, dating from 1970, is one of the artist's early works. It shows a group of skeletons rising from an open crypt in the ground and moving towards a light. The artist leaves open which scenario is to be depicted and which circumstances led to it. Bekinski thus leaves the viewers to their own associations and interpretations, which is reinforced by the lack of a title. Zdzislaw Beksinski bequeathed most of his work to his native city of Sanok. Today, the local History Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of the artist, who was murdered in Warsaw in 2005, with around 600 works. Exhibitions: - 'Zdzislaw Beksinski, obrazy z lat ('Zdislaw Beskinski, Paintings') 1971- 1972', Galeria Wspólczesna 'RUCH' klub MPiK, Warsaw, 7.12.1972-7.01. 1973 (all the works shown are titled by the author 'Oczekiwanie' ('Waiting'); - 'Beksinski w Warszawie' ('Beksinski in Warsaw'), Centrum Praskie Koneser, Warsaw, 26. 06.- 05.09.2021; - 'Beksinski w Pruszczu Gdanskim' ('Beksinski in Praust'), Dom Wiedemanna, Pruszcz Gdanski, 22.10.-30.10.2022. Part. min. rest. Frame. Provenance: Private collection, acquired directly from the artist in 1973; since 2019 private collection Poland.