The religious life of the delineated jew
19 November 2020
Drawings on wood by Aleksander Gierymski from »The Wandering Museum« collection
Aleksander Gierymski is one of Poland’s most renowned 19th-century painters. It
so happens that the most famous works of this famous painter concern Polish-
Jewish themes. They are titled Holiday of the Trumpets, A Jewish Woman with
Oranges and A Jewish Woman with Lemons. The Jewish aspect of the images
is provided, naturally, by the Jews, and the Polish aspects by the Polish Jews,
and the few Polish non-Jews, the landscape, and the artist himself. The illustrative
aspect of Gierymki’s art, significant in his body of work and essential for his
artistic development, today remains largely unknown to the wider public. But
once, in the second half of the 19th century, this work not only familiar, but also
very popular, mostly due to being published in the form of original prints, created
in wood engraving technique, for the purposes of contemporary illustrated
journals. These works by Gierymski – over 100 of them, and mostly Judaica –
are the property of the Żyd Niemalowany Foundation. Over the past three years,
we have displayed them at seven exhibitions in Poland: in Bialystok (twice),
Częstochowa (once), Warsaw (three times) and Ostróda (once).
A Jewish Woman Selling Oranges, wood engraving based on an image by A. Gierymski (copy of his own painting) engraved by Antoni Zajkowski, Warsaw 1882
The Riverbank of the Vistula near Solec: Jews Praying during the Holiday of Trumpets
wood engraving based on a drawing by A. Gierymski (copy of his own painting)
engraved by Edward Gorazdowski, Warsaw 1884
Gate in the Old Town, wood engraving based on a drawing by A. Gierymski (copy of his own painting), engraved by Edward Gorazdowski, Warsaw 1887
In the Jewish cemetery, wood engraving, based on a drawing by Aleksander Gierymski, engraved by Bronisław Puc and Walenty Ciechomski, Warsaw 1882