The illustration was made for the 190th anniversary of the November Uprising on behalf of Lux Investment company for their brand jo. The theme - the consequences of the fight for freedom and its historical evaluation – was quite challenging. That is why I started with thorough research. My goal was to find parallels between the present and the events of the first half of the 19th century. My starting point was a quote from M. Kukiel's article 'Widma przedlistopadowe (Pre-november Phantoms)', published in Kurier Warszawski (The Warsaw Courier) on May 26th, 1930: 'What Czartoryski and the Polish society wanted, above all, was to put the importance of the law above the arbitrariness of the individual, the rule of law being a negation of autocratic governance: the monarchs and their confidants respecting the limits which the constitution and the laws in force imposed on their activities'. Since working on the illustration coincided with nation-wide protests against the tightening of abortion laws in October 2020, Kukiel's statement proved astonishingly timely. Opposition to violations of the constitution and a firm belief in freedom connected the 19th century with the present. For this reason, the illustration focuses on the exact moment when the uprisers were waiting for the signal to fight, when faith in victory was at its greatest. With its stillness resulting from that anticipation, the illustration is reminiscent of a theatre setting. For this reason, it features buildings and architectural landmarks that played key roles on the night of the uprising: November 29th to 30th, 1830. Sobieski's monument on the bridge at Agrykola was the place where the insurgents gathered. Piotr Wysocki mobilized young people to fight at the Officer Cadet School. The storming of the Warsaw Belvedere to assassinate the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia marks the beginning of a national uprising against the Russian occupants. The soldiers of the 4th Line Infantry Regiment (the so-called Czwartacy) who were staying in the Alexandrian Barracks as well as civilians from the Old Town of Warsaw joined the fighting. The capturing of the Arsenal was a turning point, which allowed insurgents to take control of Warsaw's bridges and its Praga district. On the illustration I made sure to add a fire in the building of the brewery at Solec, as it was from there that the signal came to start fighting. The illustration was designed with gold foil hot stamping in mind, and was placed on the covers of weekly planner books. A total of 35 of them were produced for the year 2021: all in B5 format, in hardcover with Virando eco-leather covers. The illustration was used for the theme of a social media campaign (on Facebook and Instagram) run by Lux Investment Company for their brand jo. | 2020 |
