20 Jan Lebenstein (1930 - 1999) "Rats," 1960 oil/canvas, 50 x 100 cm Signed and dated lower left: 'LEBENSTEIN 60& Signed, dated and described on the reverse: 'Lebenstein 1960 "Les rats" 50 x 100 cm [illegible]& ID: 176661 Taxes and fees - In addition to the hammer price, the successful bidder agrees to pay us a buyer's premium on the hammer prices of each lot sold. On all lots we charge 20 % of the hammer price. - To this lot we apply 'artist&s owe right' (&#xx27;droit de suite&#xi27;) fee. Royalties are calculated using a sliding scale of percentage of the hammer price. Provenance Oger-Blanchet, Paris, 2022 private collection, Warsaw DESA Unicum, 2023 private collection, Poland Literature Jan Lebenstein. Monströme Kreaturen und "Carnet intime. Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne 1965, cat. no. 1 (from the "Intimes Notizbuch" series), n.a. (list of works) Jan Lebenstein, exhibition catalogue, Zachęta Gallery, ed. Małgorzata Kurasiak, Teresa Rostkowska, Warsaw 1992, cat. no. 58, n.a. (list of works) Exhibited "Jan Lebenstein. Monströme Kreaturen, Axiale Figuren und 'Carnet intime&, Galerie Gmurzynska, Cologne, September 1965 Jan Lebenstein. Painting, Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw, 22.04-22.05.1992 More information My paintings are emotional metaphors. Their task is to impose on the viewer, forcefully, but without cheap shouting, the experience of some emotional drama that I am trying to show by means of a spontaneous metaphor. Jan Lebenstein The art created by Jan Lebenstein was a phenomenon. This is not an optimistic, joyful and easy-to-read work, the atmosphere of images of this creator is a kind of obsession with loneliness, entrapment and drama of helpless existence. A breakthrough in Lebenstein's artistic life took place in the autumn of 1959, when works from the cycle of This event resulted in a grand, monographic exhibition by Lebenstein in Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1961. This enabled the young developer to live in France at that time and to develop a fast career that, as soon as it turns out, will also allow him to exist overseas. The artist's success was somehow linked to the rediscovery of art in the post-Stalinian regimes of the Eastern block, not the socio-realistic art, but the one that surprised with its differentness and at the same time pointed to the affinity with current art trends in the West. Jan Lebenstein's artistic activity in this context enchanted her private secret. It is worth noting here that the works of the painter, still in his Warsaw period, were sought by local and foreign collectors from New York or Chicago, among others. David and Peggy Rockefeller. The axial figures exhibited in Paris evolved over time to a more elaborate, baroque, colourful cycle of the Beastarium, painted with noticeable attention to the texture, which is also preserved in the lithograph technique. The animal performances contained in them are characterized by thick, rough-skinned bodies, evolving into perverted, scary forms covered with colors of earthy tone. They were inspired by the great texts of culture: the Bible and the mythology of Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian or Greek. The artist gave special interest to the relics of the archaic civilizations of the Tiger and Euphrates valley, which he watched in the underground of the Louvre. The opportunity to see the collection of the Paleontological Museum, including the bones of extinct animals, left an equally intense mark on the artist. Their reinterpretation of Lebenstein includes the artist's view that the way to modernity leads through the processing of tradition. Another thread in Lebenstein's work was the grotesque eroticism that appeared since the second half of the 1960s, which precedes the presented work. The deformed human-animal hybrids present in these paintings, the caricature creatures bring to mind the barely marked human pronunciation. Lebenstein in an extremely consistent way shaped the art that would reflect the apocalyptic vision of the world. In later years of creation, his canvases were filled with controversial bizarre beasts resulting from his interest in ancient civilizations and their mythology. As in the case of the work of Rats presented at this auction, the animals were often shown in erotic scenes, and it was demoting, even obscene eroticism. Although the subject matter of these works was not easy, they have gained great popularity, which they enjoy constantly to this day.