‘Magic of the Slavs’ cycle by Zofia Stryjeńska (Polish, 1891-1976).
Pictures from a French edition, 1934, via Agra Art.
The cycle shows some of the most notable Slavic rituals of pagan origins that had survived to the modern era in the rural customs. Original Polish title, ‘Gusła Słowian’, uses the archaic Polish word ‘gusła’ - a hard-to-translate concept comprising magic and rituals (mostly of shamanic nature) along with superstitions. Mrs Stryjeńska created 8 plates for this cycle. The illustrations include also the artist’s interpretations of old-Slavic gods (lesser/local deities as well as the major gods and goddesses).
[9th picture is a cover art of the French edition of the booklet]
Full sets of this cycle are extremely rare, because in the past the booklets were often decompleted, and the illustrations hung on the walls as decorations.
Here I need to share a thing with you.
I published the images above thinking that this is (finally) a complete set of this cycle, but it looks like Zofia Stryjeńska was working on other plates as well. Maybe not all were eventually chosen for publishing? I’m extremely curious now because more of them might be discovered with time.
To the point: I stumbled across the plate below that is dedicated to Slavic funerary customs. It was included (as a b&w print) in a catalogue from an exhibition of Polish art from the year 1930 (Stryjeńska created this cycle in late 1920s). I never saw that one before, and hope that the color original is not lost, or that at least some color copies or prints do exist nowadays. Reverse image searching didn’t show me anything, sadly.
I used to like watching stones, They are naked, simple like a truth.
Silent rough beings.
Without tears and love - without complaint…
Thrown on huge, wide earth…
Stripped yearnings, free from hope
Stand, belonging to nobody, yet with grief…
Of their hard eternity
Free from illusion -
Alone in nothingness.
And I sorrowed unwisely over something,
That I might cry among those mute rocks,
That winds chop them up,
Storms are passing by,
But they last -
And nobody rules
over them,
Because they had lived
And became human hearts.
■ Grażyna Chrostowska
was born on 21 October, 1921 in Lublin, Poland. She was a member of the
underground KOP (Komenda Obrońców Polski) organization during the Nazi
Germany occupation of Poland. She was arrested by Gestapo in Lublin on 8
May, 1941. Together with her sister she was sent to the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp on 23 September, 1941. On 18 April, 1942, Grażyna Chrostowska (aged 21) and her sister were executed by firing squad in the camp.
