Aleksandra Jachtoma’s compositions from the first half of the 1960s still bear traits of figuration. The still lifes, portraits and figural scenes from this period are dominated by a synthetic form that operates in symmetry, and an important role is played by colour and texture. Composition in Green uses the richness of the spectrum of one colour thanks to subtle collisions of various shades of the eponymous hue in separate fields of the painting, demarcated by geometric and organic shapes. The entire surface of the canvas is filled by a simplified figure of an angel or a saint with widely outstretched arms, a halo around its head, lit up with an inner flow. The figure is presented frontally; it is characterised by an eminence characteristic of icon painting. The mysticism that emanates from the painting would take on the form of pure abstraction in the artist’s later works.

Michał jachuła

translated by Paulina Bożek