Teresa PĄGOWSKA (1929-2007), Negro Spirituals, 1988

oil, canvas; 150 x 136 cm;
Signature and description on back: Pągowska; TERESA PĄGOWSKA 1988 / NEGRO SPIRITUALS / 150 X 136 CM and an exhibition sticker from the National Museum in Poznań from a 2003 exhibition.

Teresa Pągowska is considered one of the most important artists in postwar Poland. She graduated from the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań, where she studied under, among others, Wacław Taranczewski, whose interest in color certainly had a strong influence on the artist's later work. She was associated, already as a teacher, with such universities as the State Higher School of Visual Arts in Gdansk and Lodz and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In her work she placed a very strong emphasis on colors, which she combined in surprising ways, creating works of strong expression. Since the 1960s, she has introduced the human figure , usually female, into her compositions, depriving her of individual characteristics, placing her in bizarre poses, often treating her in a synthetic way, almost as if she were a template cut out of paper, playing not only with huge color patches, but also the shadow she casts.
The work on offer dates from 1988, when Pągowska was already an artist recognized and respected in art circles, having received the title of full professor, and her style was determined, bold and clarified. The canvas depicts an indefinite black figure in a finely detailed arrangement and a number of smaller figures lined up behind her in similar, yet varied,
as if in dance poses. The background is made up of large, geometric patches of red, pink and shades of beige. With the title Negro Spirituals, the artist alludes to songs of a religious nature sung by Negro slaves, consisting of repetition by the group, passages sung by the leader with the strongest voice. Over time, this scheme, as well as the melodies themselves, became one of the staples of the musical genre that is the blues.