Bolesław Biegas (1877–1954), Creative Thought, 1912 (La Pensée Créatrice)

Provenance
Warsaw, private collection. Polswiss Art, auction on December 12, 2023, lot 13. Warsaw, private collection.

Reproduced
Legutko, Z. M., “Chronicle” [in:] “Pro Arte” Polish Art in the World / Sztuka polska w świecie, Autumn 1987, [quarterly; New York], p. 59 (plaster). Deryng, X., Boleslas Biegas. Sculptures – Peintures [exhibition catalog], Trianon de Bagatelle, Paris 1992, inside front cover (plaster), p. 269 (sketch for a sculpture).

The beginning of the second decade of the 20th century was a fruitful period in the life of Bolesław Biegas. At that time, a strong geometric and linear trend manifested itself in the sculptor’s work. It was characterized by a departure from naturalism and the anatomical accuracy required at the time, as well as by a sketch-like quality and the synthesis of the entire figure. The work on offer—“Creative Thought” (La Pensée Créatrice)—belongs to this repertoire. Pen-and-ink drawings for “Creative Thought” and certain other double-sided sculptures were included in the artist’s 1912 sketchbook, which is preserved in his archives at the Historical and Literary Society/Polish Library in Paris.
Each side of the work depicts simplified, non-realistic human figures wearing stylized long robes and helmets on their heads. One side of the sculpture depicts a woman wearing a pointed helmet from which three schematic, stylized heads emerge. The other side of the sculpture depicts a figure with a long, angular face, wearing a helmet reaching to the eyebrows, topped with a geometric human face. The figure’s hands are raised toward its face. On the female side, the heads are topped with chameleons seen in profile, baring their teeth. Conical snail shells are placed on their backs. On the other side, the heads wear pointed helmets pulled low over the forehead. The lateral surfaces of the sculpture below the dual heads are adorned with numerous drawings—etched into the plaster—of animals, fantastical birds, and prehistoric animal forms that are difficult to identify.
The work’s rich form is intended to express an ambitious symbolic program that refers to cosmogonic themes: the origin of human life on Earth. According to Biegas, its creator is a divine being, depicted as a schematic face within a triangle, from whose thoughts humanity arises. In the artist’s work, the divine being is often depicted as having multiple forms. In “Creative Thought,” the motif of three heads is repeated numerous times. Another symbolic element used by the artist is the spiral. In various cultures, it signifies the evolution of the universe, as well as the repetitive cycle of human life: birth, life, and death. The spiral also refers to movement and infinity, the energy and mystery of the universe, and the eternal continuity of existence.
The origins of the symbolism in double-sided sculptures can be found in Hinduism. “Creative Thought” incorporates ritual hand gestures known as mudras. The circular shape connecting the heads of both figures, in turn, would allude to the solar symbol and the idea of light as a creative force and mystical illumination, typical of Hinduism. Similarly, the presence of a spiral links “Creative Thought” to Far Eastern religion. The “joining” of the two figures back-to-back, however, should be attributed to the aesthetics of the Vienna Secession, which Biegas highly valued.
“Creative Thought” fits into the most intriguing and deeply philosophical symbolist theme, which serves as an interpretation of the artist’s own cosmogony. The work is evidence of modern formal thinking, in which the simplification of shapes, their far-reaching geometrization, hieratization, and verticalization, as well as the decorative treatment of surfaces using lines with connotations not limited to Art Nouveau—are all expressions of Biegas’s highly individual and original artistic language.