Anna Güntner

Anna Güntner’s work could be characterised as poetic or metaphorical, having a lot in common with fantastic painting whilst staying fully autonomous and original. The painter created her own significant style (challenging the dominating trends of the time, like Tachisme, Pop Art and Conceptualism) and cultivated it throughout her whole life, until she, mysteriously, decided to give up painting in the 1980s. Güntner’s introspective paintings are rooted in the tradition of surrealism, and she painted flat (mainly landscape) compositions, often featuring women with alabaster complexions and dreamy, slightly ironic gazes.

Güntner was born in 1933 in Poznan, Poland. She studied at professor Zbignie Pronaszko’s studio and graduated from Cracow Academy of Fine Arts in 1958. Shortly after graduating she started her artistic career, and her work was recognised in Poland as well as abroad. Güntner received many awards and scholarships, including those from the French government (1964) and the Kosciuszko Foundation, New York (1979), which allowed her to travel extensively and develop artistically in esteemed international institutions. Her paintings, often with erotic undertones, could be interpreted in multiple ways. The figure that Güntner most usually depicts is a, slightly whimsical, woman often accompanied by male figures. Melancholic heroines and heroes of her paintings are from time to time complimented with, or replaced by, everyday objects and utensils. This is how the artist underlined the objects inherent autonomy of being. All of the elements are shown in an a vaguely unspecified and unknown realm. Güntner’s landscapes are exactly opposite to the view the artist had seen out of her apartment window in Nowa Huta, Poland. The artist was inspired by Old Master paintings, seeking motives and sourcing background scenery from Dutch, Flemish and Italian Renaissance painting.

As pointed out by, art advisor and freelance journalist, Julia Gorlewska, ‘Güntner’s paintings are a compilation of personal emotions and experiences, along with direct references to the legacy of old masters.’ Many of her compositions refer to the style of early Renaissance artists such as Jan van Eyck (c. 1390 – 1441, Flemish painter active in Bruges), Piero della Francesca (1415 – 1492, Italian painter and mathematician) and Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 – 1516, Dutch painter from Brabant):

This ‘Renaissance quality’ is evident not only in the depiction of figures but also in the way she constructs landscape spaces using northern European aerial perspective (through the gradation of color temperatures in successive planes). For instance, in the painting ‘Conversation with Mr. Montefeltro,’ she included a figure from a Piero della Francesca painting, From this artist’s diptych, she cut out the portrait of the duke in a collage style and replaced his wife with a nude young blonde. The presented painting is a subtle nod to Paul Delvaux’s ‘Place of Isolation.’

Güntner had many monographic exhibitions and participated in a substantial number of collective ones ,for example in Paris, Milan, Stockholm, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Caracas. Her works can be found in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków, Poland; the National Museum in Warsaw; the National Museum in Poznań, Poland; the Museum of Art in Łódź, Poland; the Bundy Museum of History and Art in New York, U.S.A. as well as in private collections in Japan, U.S.A. and Italy.

Anna Güntner’s symbol-rich works have captured the hearts of buyers worldwide. In 2024 at Desa Unicum, in Warsaw, her piece Windless day (1967, oil on canvas, 110 x 70 cm) sold for a record €84,561 at the Magical art. Surrealism and magic realism auction. The previous record was set in March 2023 at Sotheby’s, London when Engagement (1970, oil on canvas, 100 x 130 cm) sold for €87,085. Güntner’s works have also achieved impressive results at Swedish auction houses Bukowski’s and Stockholms Auktionsverk. It is worth noting that due to her limited output, of only about 150 oil paintings, her presence in the market is rare.

Excellent craftsmanship, refined drawing and multitude of meanings make Anna Güntner an important artist whose oeuvre represents a unique sub-genre in the art historical discourse of Europe. In 2021 to 2022 a monographic exhibition of the artist’s work was organized by the Krakow Artemis Gallery and the Nowa Huta Cultural Center in the Galerii Centrum NCK, Kraków, Poland reflective of the artist’s enduring influence and her increasing significance in the context of today’s efforts to return to the oeuvres of historically overlooked female artists.

Anna Güntner’s style is very original since she intertwined different historical periods and styles. A characteristic thing for the artist was juxtaposing people and objects from the first set with faraway landscapes that allowed her to build space within the painting. She emphasised the poetic factor, telling a story but leaving us with freedom of interpretation. The mastery of the drawing is uncanny, all of the details are shown with great care. Bright, soft colours emphasise parts of the painting together with contouring. The precise drawing is seducing the viewer. Whilst looking at her work we are faced with a multiplicity of meanings, as metaphorical resonance brings us viewers into the mystery. It is important to look closer at Anna Güntner’s unique style. She stubbornly followed her own imagination in the socialist reality of her time.

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