Jozef Moses GABOWICZ , EXCITEMENT, 1906

Bronze, height 40.5; base 30 x 23 cm
Signed on the base: J. Gabowicz; ODLEW BR.ŁOPIEŃSCY - mark used for sculptures made for the author.
Exhibited:
Józef Gabowicz, Salon of Seweryn Jasieński, Warsaw, 1923
Asking price 70000
Estimate 90000 - 100000
Bibliography:
W. Wankie, From the art..., p. 11
L.Dreikurs, In the studio of the jeweler, our Review, 1937, no. 277, p. 9
Renata Piątkowska, Lucky artist Gabowicz..., in: Rzeźba polska przełomu XIX i XX wieku, Studia edited by Jerzy Malinowski, DiG, Warsaw, 2007, p.40, 41, il. 13, 14
The sculpture of a naked woman emerging from under a rock has clear Rodin inspirations. It was interpreted differently by contemporaries. Wankie saw in her a liberated Poland. Dreikurs a Jewish woman liberating herself like the whole nation from slavery. Devoid of pathos, she is a symbol of suffering and struggle for freedom rather than victory.
Jozef Mojżesz GABOWICZ
1862 Kolno - 1939 Warsaw
Sculptor. He came from a poor family. Thanks to the help of Dr. Frenkel, who paid for his education, he was able to study with L. Kucharzewski and W. Gerson. He studied at the Warsaw Drawing Class and - as a free student, a scholarship student of H. Wawelberg - at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1885-1895). Later he went to Paris, where he studied under A. Rodin and J. Thomas. He made his debut at the Paris Salons. From 1901 he lived in Warsaw, working as an engraver at the Lopienski Brothers foundry. He exhibited his works in, among other places: Warsaw (also at the first exhibition of Jewish artists in 1911), Paris, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Minsk. In 1910. France awarded him the officer's palm of the Legion of Honor for lifetime achievement. During World War I, he stayed in Moscow. In 1915, he organized an exhibition there for the benefit of Polish refugees. After returning to Warsaw, he exhibited at the ZTKSP. Gabovich's art was formed under the influence of 19th century naturalism. The artist's favorite themes were sentimentally shown and human tragedy (The Last Drop, News from Beyond the Sea) and symbolic motifs (The Living String). He successfully practiced portrait sculpture (e.g., portraits of H. Wawelberg, L. Zamenhof, J. Bloch) and medal making (e.g., portrait medals and bust of Eliza Orzeszkowa). A large collection of his sculptures, salvaged from the artist's studio, is now in the collection of the Museum of the Jewish Historical Institute.