Woman with a Goose

The rural reality of villagers, people at work, and animals are recurring themes in the work of Tadeusz Kulisiewicz. Against a sepia-toned, uniform background, the artist has created figures using only contours. On the left side, we see a goose of unnatural size, directed toward the woman sitting on the right. She is dressed in a schematically rendered dress and has bare feet. Facing the viewer, she looks toward the bird, while her body seems to recoil from it, her figure leaning in the opposite direction. The woman depicted is likely a resident of Szlembark, a mountain village where the artist spent several months each year. Geese were once among the most common domestic animals — perhaps the woman is about to start plucking feathers?