ADAMCZEWSKI, Stanislaw (Polish school). [Circa 1875] - Lot 41

Lot 41
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Result : 2 000EUR
ADAMCZEWSKI, Stanislaw (Polish school). [Circa 1875] - Lot 41
ADAMCZEWSKI, Stanislaw (Polish school). [Circa 1875] Spectacular design for a utopian monument with a large neoclassical dome and pyramids. Pen and watercolor. Dim. 64.5 x 107.8 cm. Traces of glue at bottom corners. Scale at bottom of drawing, in meters and in Italian ("Metri"). Mention at top left: "Tav. IV. (= Tavola IV / Planche IV), this drawing belonged to a set. Signed lower right: "St. Adamcze[xxx], Varsovia". A utopian project of extraordinary dimensions, combining Egyptomania and neoclassicism inspired by the Italian Renaissance, all set against a mountain backdrop. Very little is known about Polish architect Stanisław Adamczewski, who remains a mysterious and intriguing figure in the history of late-19ᵉ century Polish architecture. Active in Warsaw on private projects, he was perceived by his contemporaries as an independent, sometimes eccentric spirit, due to his ambitious and highly symbolic projects. He was part of the Egyptomania movement, a modern manifestation of the reception of Egyptian antiquity in the arts. In the 1870s, Adamczewski proposed several building projects inspired by ancient Egypt in Warsaw, notably for the Great Synagogue, but none of them was selected. This drawing is certainly part of this research. In 1880, he published a design for a monumental synagogue for Warsaw in a professional journal, which he himself described as "monumental Egyptian style". The façade was conceived as a portico with twelve Egyptian-inspired columns, alluding to the twelve tribes of Israel, and crowned with cavet cornices, while various motifs (lotus, papyrus, funerary ornaments) were charged with a learned symbolic reading. His theoretical work and utopian projects, notably that of a "New Jerusalem" or a "Monument to the History of the United Slavs", bear witness to a deep interest in architectural symbolism and religious and historical references, giving his work a scholarly and visionary dimension.
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