Andrzej Zając – an artist dedicated to depicting African women with the technique of oil on canvas. His models are always crowned with halos, hence the name Black Madonnas. Andrzej Zając’s paintings are small or medium in size (never bigger than 50 x 70 cm) but always set in stocky, broad, wooden or golden, carved, and seemingly unfitting frames. He often depicts his Madonnas with a small child-infant or in advanced pregnancy. His women are always young, beautiful, healthy, very well-proportioned, perfect. His portrayals have a photorealistic quality to them, it takes a very close examination to discern the strokes of a small, soft brush used to create them.
African Madonna
The 50x70cm painting of “African Madonna” depicts a beautiful, young, dark-skinned woman. The composition is horizontal, with the woman presented sitting down on the side, leaning on her right arm, and holding the right over her ample, rounded and shapely bosom. Her legs are slightly folded towards the front. The woman is nude but the position in which she is depicted does not reveal any details of her nakedness. The body of the Madonna is rounded and perfect. Zając’s focus is entirely on beauty and perfection of proportions. ¾ of the background from the top is in gold, bright and clear, the lower surface on which the woman is sitting is the colour of sun-burnt sand. The two planes are separated by an irregular line which thickens or thins out slightly in various sections. The woman’s face is gently inclined towards the right and the viewer. the Madonna’s lips are large and full, her nose slightly turned up, the eyes, painted in the dark framework of eyebrows and eyelashes, are hazel. She gazes at us in reverie. The hair under the halo is short and curly. A shadow extends from under her right arm. The frame is typical of the artist’s works (approx. 10 cm), ornamented and carved in plant motifs, coloured gold and old silver.
