43 Soter Jax Malachowski (1867 - 1952) Helsh boat on the seashore, 1931 gouache/paper, 67 x 97 cm (dimensions in frame) Signed and dated p.d.: 'SJaxa ID: 182063 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. Opinions Katarzyna Lomnicka's 2017 expert report Literature cf.: Katarzyna Lomnicka, Jaxa. Soter August Jaxa-Małachowski, Kraków 2014, p. 187 (il.) More information The 1931 painting depicts a fishing boat left on the sand with distributed nets, behind which a bright beach stretches and is moved by waves of the Baltic wall. Small silhouettes of people and sailing boats on the further plan highlight the vastness of the landscape, whose mood the artist builds with light and color. In the 1930s, Soter August Jaxa-Małachowski was one of the most recognizable Polish marine painters. His interest in the sea was ahead of fashion, which came after Poland regained access to the Baltic Sea. The sea element fascinated him from his youth, and he regularly visited the Polish Coast in the 1920s. Returning topics created a kind of atlas of coastal places and everyday life of their inhabitants. The artist was interested in both calm, sunlit sea and stormy waves. He often returned to empty beaches, lonely boats and fishing marinas. The Baltic of the interwar years was a special space. The construction of the port in Gdynia, the development of holiday villages and the popularity of seaside holidays made the coast a symbol of modern Poland. Jaxa-Malachowski observed these changes from close up, but his paintings rarely dominated the momentum of new investments. He was more likely to paint what preserved the old rhythm: sandy shores, fishing boats taken to land, drying nets. The compilation of such themes with an open sea area allowed him to capture the atmosphere of places on the border between traditional fishermen's lives and developing leisure culture. The Hel Peninsula was a particularly important point of its seaside hiking. In Hel he painted fishing boats, boats standing in marinas and units left on the beach. Sometimes he portrayed fishermen, women carrying nets or summers, but he did not allow an anecdote to cover the landscape. In many compositions, traces of human presence were limited to a single boat or abandoned fishing gear. These topics were returned under the titles "Helskie Cutry', "Helboy', 'Hel' and 'Hell' at night. The works from this circle are also included in the collections of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk. He also worked in Orłów, painting the Gulf of Gdansk, cliffs and beach. He was in Gdynia, on Stone Mountain and in Sopot. He painted the coast at various times of the day, observing the change in the color of water under the influence of light and weather. The bright sands, blues, and greenery dominated the serene scenes, while the sea was gaining weight in pictures of the storm, and the horizon was overshadowed by dark clouds. Today's critics saw the ability to differentiate moods, highlighting the truth of color, the clarity of light, and the ability of wave motion. A separate place in Jaxy-Malachowski's work was occupied by nocturnes. Already in 1912, on the occasion of his first individual exhibition in Krakow, special attention was paid to the ability to show the moon night. During the interwar period, the artist developed this topic over the Baltic Sea, returning to the sea shots seen from the high shore, with a dark outline of a cliff or a fishing marina. Silver reflections and subtle tonal transitions have determined the expression of these performances. The painter was able to make a similar motive many times, each time looking for a different light system. In the 1930 ' s, his work was widely presented to the audience. During the collective exhibition of the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts in 1932 he presented as many as forty-five compositions. In the autumn of 1938, during a collective exhibition of his own works in the Krakow Palace of Art, held in parallel with the Maritime and Colonial League Exhibition, he presented thirty paintings, mainly marinist. At the time, the press praised his ability to observe subtle light effects, breaking waves and white foam remaining on wet sand. The success of these works also had a practical dimension. Painting became the primary source of family support for the artist, so he was eager to return to the motives valued by the audience. Another view of the beaches, ports and Venetian canals was created in Krakow's workshop. It even contained a wooden model of a fishing boat, helping to develop compositions with lonely boats on the shore. Numerous watercolours and gouaches from that period were made on the cardboard which he bought at a painting shop in Kraków on Basztowa Street. The Navy of Jaxy-Malachowski was not all about documenting the Polish coast. The artist searched for changing states of nature, able to make an image full of silence or tension from a seemingly ordinary view. His performances of beaches and fishing boats combined careful observation of everyday life with sensitivity to light. Thanks to this, the Baltic landscape has become one of the most permanent and recognizable themes of its painting.