Page 29 - Studio International - June 1965
P. 29

Jan  Lebenstein





                                also  by  giving  the  strange  sympathy  evoked  in  the
                                spectator by the image of a  living human being trans­
                                figured into a symbolic act by the very engraving of the
                                stone with that creature's likeness.
                                 The other influence is no less important: it arose from
                                the overwhelming impression made upon him when he
                                saw  Rembrandt's works while on a visit to  Holland in
                                1956.  Undoubtedly,  it was in the example  afforded by
                                Rembrandt that he found his ability to image pictorial
                                matter  in terms of precious matter-to ask from  it  the
                                mysterious  and  sumptuous  beauty that the  chisel  can
        4                       achieve only with the precious metals.














































                                 When he came to Paris for the first time, he had come  have brought about a dispersion of his unique concepts.
                                by way  of Vienna,  where  he  had  stopped  to  visit the   He also separated himself from these groups in order to
                                Museum,  with  the  avidity  of  one  who  did  not  know  defend himself against  what  was,  for  him,  negative in
                                whether he would ever see such works again,  and of  too intimate a contact with the everyday lives  of other
                                one who is ready and anxious to learn their lineaments   people  in  his  own  country.  This  isolation  was  all  the
                                by heart.  His return to  Paris for the  Biennale award is  more  necessary  for  him,  as  he  thought,  when  he
                                therefore  an  important  turning-point  in  his  life-an  arrived in  France and seemed to find himself in a period
                                event  that  he  had  not  foreseen  and  which  had  a  of crisis and at the end of an epoch.  It was also neces­
                                decisive  influence  because,  though  he  had  come  sary because in his artistic development he did not rely
                                intending to stay for a limited period, he has remained  in advance on a definite programme. but rather allowed
                                in the city to this day: he saw his influence spreading  himself to be guided by needs and  instinct.
                                ever wider-he has now attained to the  honour of an   Lebenstein has not constructed his work according to
                                international  audience.                           aesthetic theories.  He rather pursues a method of poetic
        1
        Figure 145 1962          In  order  to  obtain  these  results,  he  did  not  have  to  creation  in  conformity with his curiosity and the wide
                                spend vast amounts on publicity, nor was he compelled  reading that his soul requires.  For him,  painting is the
        2
        Figure 117 1961         to  appear  in  avant-garde  circles.  On the  contrary,  his  most easily accessible means of expression available to
        Wassermann  Collection.  New  York   life was more than ever before that of a solitary, for he  make  his  emotional  experiences  external.  Human
        3                       wished to  carry out again his experiments of  1955 in  problems  seem  to  him  to  be  more  important  than
        Figure  7 85 1963       Poland; for at that time he was compelled to leave the  technical  problems  and  mere  problems  of  painting.
        4                       meetings of groups to which he was attached, so that he  Therefore,  we have some explanation of what-to the
        Le Rampant 1964
        97 x 162 cm.            might have some defence against elements that could  point almost  of  obsession-is  physically  visible  in  his
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