Artwork
Woman knitting a garter
Woman knitting a garter is an unspecified painting by the Realist artist Aleksander Kotsis. It dates from 1866 and is held in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1866, *Woman knitting a garter* is an oil painting by Polish artist Aleksander Kotsis. Executed during the middle of the 19th century, the work exemplifies Kotsis’s focus on intimate, everyday subjects rendered with a realist sensibility. The canvas is part of the National Museum in Warsaw’s collection, where it remains on display as a representative piece of Polish genre painting.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a solitary woman seated in a dim interior, absorbed in the task of knitting a garter. She wears a sizable hat, a dark coat, and a red scarf, while her gaze is directed toward her hands and the knitting needles. The quiet concentration and domestic setting suggest themes of labor, femininity, and the private sphere of 19th‑century household life.
Technique & Style
Light enters from the left, casting a narrow beam that illuminates the figure’s upper body while leaving her face partially obscured.
Kotsis employs a restrained palette dominated by browns, blacks, and muted reds, creating a somber atmosphere. Light enters from the left, casting a narrow beam that illuminates the figure’s upper body while leaving her face partially obscured. The brushwork balances detailed rendering of the textile elements with broader, tonal modeling, reflecting the artist’s synthesis of Romantic mood and Realist observation.
History & Provenance
Born and deceased in Kraków, Kotsis worked primarily in the mid‑1800s, producing landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes. *Woman knitting a garter* entered the National Museum in Warsaw’s holdings at an unspecified date, where it has been preserved as part of the institution’s representation of Polish realist painting. The painting’s provenance reflects its status as a typical example of Kotsis’s domestic genre oeuvre.
Artist & collection
Artist
Aleksander Kotsis (30 May 1836 – 7 August 1877) was a Polish painter. He created landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes in a combination Romantic and Realistic style. Most of his paintings are small. He was born and died in Kraków.
Student
A Gondolier
Mephisto from the Opera Faust
Bătrân
Meisje bij een deuropening.
Mephisto from the Opera Faust
Ungarischer Schafhirte
Krakovian Peasant
A Man Wearing a Red Coat
Jaśko of Tęczyn's Garment. Study to the Painting "The Oath of Queen Jadwiga"
Man with a Tankard
Tartar woman “Fathne”. From the journey to Crimea