Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (29.1988)

content refers the spectator to, among other thinga, the patriotic and eschatological dimension
ot' Malczewski's oeuvre (Figs 5—7)30. He also appears in his paintings as Hamlet settling his
historical-and-Polish as well as artistic dilemma „to be or not to be"31, as Don Quixote obsessed
witch an ideał, and in a harlequin's attire33; in the metaphorieal Spanish costume of Don Juan (?)
with a statuette of Venus in his hand34, and in the refined clothes and attitude of a contemporary
dandy35. He represents himself as a faun in his striving to enchant a woman with the musie of
his flute or a deceitful fisherman using stratagems to catch an audacious, sensuous nymph36.
Frequently and in various contexts, he represents himself in a knight.'s armour37, a wanderer
or a pilgrim in pursuit of his destination38 (Figs 8—12).

Jacek Malczewski presents himself in extreme situations, on two opposite poles of life: as
a boy absorbed in the miracle of chilchood39 and a man initiated into death (Figs 13-14)40;
he even paints his imaginary posthumous images, his funeral or his return, carried on a bier,
to his native partś (Figs 15-16)41. Alongsidc these, there are Malczewski's self-poitraits that
do not puc their symbolic meaning into relief either through the clothing or the mask of another
character. For the most part, the clothes are quite casual, most often the same grey jacket for
years, a waistcoat or a wbite shirt with puffed sleeves. The unusual situation and surroundings
in which the figurę is placed vary, and so do the expression and impact of the painterly or-
chestration of the whole (Figs 17—21). It has been observed that the artist's face does not
change much from one painting to another. Mieczysław Wallis wrote: ,,Yet his characteristic
face... is almost always the same. It barely changes with passage of time. It seems to be a mask
rather than a face"42. Comparing MalczewskPs self-portraits with Rembrandt's, he says: "... the
hundred odd painted, etched and drawn self-portraits by the Dutch artist add up to a penetra-
ting history of his body and soul. On the other hand, Malczcwski's numerous self-portraits say
very little about the transformations of his appearance, and almost nothing of his inner history"43.

Indeed, we can speak of somc immobilily of Malczewski's images of his face, which should
not be treated as a flow, however. Kazimierz Wyka was right when he said that one could speak
about oneself not only by showing one's face, but also by engaging the surroundings, the context
in which the face was placed44.

It would be worthwhile considering the purpose of this immobility of the lineaments of the
face or their congealment into a mask. Let us repeat that the purpose of symbolic self-portraits,

30. Tribute Money, trptych, 190, Poznań, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. n°. Mp 2110, Mp 2109, Mp 2113.

31. Year 1905, 1905 or On Ihe Iioad, 1905—1906, priv. col.

32. Self-portrait, 1921, bearings unknown.

33. Self-portrait Ordinary Day, bearings unknown, reproduced from an old photograph.

34. Self-portrait, central part of the triptych On the Road of Life, 1916, priv. col.

35. Self-portrait, ca. 1909, bearings unknown, reproduced from an old photograph,

36. Fisherman, 1909, bearings unknown, reproduced from an old photograph.

37. E.g. Self-portrait in Armour, 1914, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe, mv. n°. MP 375 MNW. Self-portrait in Armour, 1919,
Kielce, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. n°. 928.

38. Return, from the series My Life, 1914, Poznań, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. n°, Mp 2055. Year 1862, 1916 Cracow, Muzeum
Narodowe, inv. n°. 301155.

39. Childhood. Jacek by the Pond al Wielgie from the series My life, 1919, priv. col.

40. Thanatos, ca. 1911, Poznań, Muzeum Narodowe, inv. n°. Mp 1307.

41. My Funeral, triptych, 1923, Radom, Muzeum Okręgowe, inv. n*. Spm/16/987. Bock to Ihe Native Parls, ca, 1911, Cracow,
Muzeum Narodowe, inv. n°. 157889.

42. M. Wallis, op. cii., p. 197.

43. Ibid. p. 195.

44. K. Wyka, op. cii., p. 141.

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