Erna Rosenstein, Barely, c.1980–82, mixed technique on canvas, 33 x 40 cm

The Erna Rosenstein (1913–2004) composition on canvas, Barely, entered the Galeria Studio Collection immediately after the closing of her solo exhibition “Unexpected. Drawings, Things, Painting” at Galeria Studio in March 1984. Barely was one of four works purchased for the Collection immediately after this exhibition.

It is a modest painting glowing with an inner radiance, the color of snow. In the lower righthand corner of the composition the artist has inscribed the title and signed it. The collection inventory identifies the work as having been made between 1980–82. Barely is an ambiguous title. It can mean, for example, that the shapes in the painting are vestigial, discreet, and can only be seen in a covert way. Behind a veil of white mist, the shapes of the landscape are drawn. In the distance, we distinguish two clouds of smoke pointing towards the sky. Indeed, sometimes, such effects are produced by the wind on snowy hills. But it could be that the smoke is simply smoke. The result of combustion. Barely visible. Because Barely also presents a manner of painting: delicate wisps, intentional blurriness, haze.

Barely is also the kind of adverb used in sentences to suggest that while an action is almost indiscernible it remains perceptible nonetheless. Sometimes something that happened a long time ago still seems current, as if it happened just yesterday. And that, too, is what this painting is talking about.

Dorota Jarecka