Objects

On 15 November 1913, the Autumn Salon (Salon d'Automne) opened in Paris, at which Marek Szwarc showed a bas-relief (executed in deep relief in plaster) entitled "Eve". It is one of the few known early works of the artist. Discussing this sculpture, Eleonora Jedlińska notes that its "distinctive element is [...] the decorative, Art Nouveau bent, almost arabesque background, suggesting the vegetation of the Garden of Eden, and the snake wrapping around Eve's head, whose weight symbolises the burden of original sin. [...] Satan the serpent "crowns" Eve's head, as it were, because it is knowledge, the source of which is thought, that will cause the fruit eaten from the Tree of Knowledge to open the first humans' eyes, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5, "Aramaic Bible. Targum Neofiti", Lublin 2014). The artist presented a figure of the pensive, girlish Eve, surrendering to the destiny to be fulfilled, in a strong counterpoint, giving the imagined figurean inevitablen feature of dancing, flexible movement, which is deepened by the bent left leg and the fluid line of the left hand resting on the hip" (E. Jedlińska, Rzeźby Marek Szwarc w latach 1910-1958: neoclasscyzm - ekspresjonizm - synteza, Pamiętnik Sztuk Pięknych [Sculptures by Marek Szwarc in 1910-1958: Neoclassicism - Expressionism - Synthesis, Memoir of Fine Arts] 2017, no. 12, p. 151).

Renata Piątkowska