36. Portrait of an Old Woman (Widow) [1916.]

Jerolim Miše devoted his entire creative life to portrait painting. More precisely, from his school years at art schools in Zagreb, Rome and Florence (1910 - 1914) until his final departure from Zagreb to his native Split (1969), where he died at the age of eighty. The painter's dedication to this "classical" painting discipline was generously rewarded by the critic and the audience and it is fair to say that alongside Dalmatian landscapes from the 20s and 30s, portraits are the forte of Miše's opus and a brilliant vertical of Croatian modern portrait painting. Devoted to his painterly mission, Miše was able to masterfully cater to the desires of the already mature bourgeois class who wanted to see portraits of their loved ones on the walls of their homes, in addition to landscapes. On the other hand, in the guise of oppressive socio-political circumstances on the eve of World War I, Miše was able to authentically and sociologically rebelliously respond to the current issues of poverty and war horrors. His paintings of poor children, old men and women with darkened eyes, in Miše's expressive interpretations, lose their personality and are portraits of spiritually and materially wounded people. The painter's oil portrait of a sad elderly woman, actually a "Widow", painted in 1916, is a prime example of coloristic and formal unity in expressing the psychological states of the person portrayed, which Miše mastered on the principles of contemporary German expressionism. Thanks to the archive data of Salon Ullrich we can highlight that the painting "Widow" was exhibited during September and October 1916. on the first solo performance of Jerolim Miše in Zagreb. In the accompanying catalog, it is listed under number 20. It was also a special, we would say "award" exhibition for the successful young artist, which took place within the manifestations of the "Croatian Spring Salon" that year housed in the salon of Anton Ullrich. After the 20's of the last century in the portrait and landscape painting of Jerolim Miše, the flat and linear treatment of the motif is neglected. Under the influence of French painting, his paintings are dominated by free brush strokes, pure colors applied in patches and a kind of colorism of national character, which was practiced by the art "Group of Three" of which he was a member. BRP

Dimensions

width 58 cm, height 90.5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right, in red, "(19)16 J. Miše"

Research information

The work was exhibited at the solo exhibition "Jerolim Miše", 15. 09. - 05. 10. 1916., at Salon Ulrich, Zagreb and is mentioned in the exhibition catalog under catalog number 20, with the title "Widow".

Dating

1916.

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