DOI Artikel:
Jakimowicz, Irena: "The Falsehood of Woman" or the duality of existence in Witkacy
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18942#0013
1. S.l. Witkiewicz, The Falsehood of Woman, January 1 927, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe
woman or another. I am to meet her atthe Staroniewiczes". On 25th August he recorded the visit
which Mrs Grossman had paid to him in the company of Henryka Staroniewicz, while two days
later, on the back of the note enclosed with the catalogue which Mrs Grossman was returning to
the Firm2 he expiained: "She is a Jewess who intends to order a large portrait". The next piece of
news was sent already from Warsaw, where the portrait was to be painted, to the artistst's mother
in Zakopane. On 24th December he announced that from the third day of Christmas he would
have "a big Jewish woman for 400 zlotys". On 27th December he wrote about preparing for the
portrait a large sheet of paper measuring 100 x 1 50cm. On 29th December he reported —for the
second time — his decision to start working on the portrait on New Year's Day, on a larger sheet
of paper, which "will take at ieast a week, for it is for the price of 500 — with bare arms". The date
of thefirst sitting for the portrait was changed once more because — as can begathered from the
letter of 3rd January 1927 — "Those Warsaw blockheads bungled the paper for Grossman". The
following day he announced the commencement of drawing on 5th January, "Because of the
stretcher and the client herself not being yet ready". However, it appears from his letter of 7th
January that work on the portrait had actually begun the day before. At the same time he
expressed his despondency and exasperation because of the model's unpunctuality ("because
the cow did not come"). He considered the 9th January sitting as decisive but complained that
he was "making rather slow progress". The last reference to the drawing of the portrait dates from
16th January. In most cases the news included the recurrent reference to the sum of 500 zlotys
2. S.l. Witkiewicz, Parę dość stosunkowo luźnych uwag o portrecie w ogóle i moich portretach w szczególności (A Few
Relatively Loose Remarks on the Portrait in General and on My Portraits in Particular), Introduction in Katalog wystawy
obrazów Tymona Niesiolowskigo i portretów Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza (Catalogue of the Exhibition of Pictures by
Tymon Niesiołowski and Portraits by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz). The Czesław Garliński Salon, Warszawa, 1 925. It was
rendered accessible to clients before the publication of the Firm's Regulations.
11
woman or another. I am to meet her atthe Staroniewiczes". On 25th August he recorded the visit
which Mrs Grossman had paid to him in the company of Henryka Staroniewicz, while two days
later, on the back of the note enclosed with the catalogue which Mrs Grossman was returning to
the Firm2 he expiained: "She is a Jewess who intends to order a large portrait". The next piece of
news was sent already from Warsaw, where the portrait was to be painted, to the artistst's mother
in Zakopane. On 24th December he announced that from the third day of Christmas he would
have "a big Jewish woman for 400 zlotys". On 27th December he wrote about preparing for the
portrait a large sheet of paper measuring 100 x 1 50cm. On 29th December he reported —for the
second time — his decision to start working on the portrait on New Year's Day, on a larger sheet
of paper, which "will take at ieast a week, for it is for the price of 500 — with bare arms". The date
of thefirst sitting for the portrait was changed once more because — as can begathered from the
letter of 3rd January 1927 — "Those Warsaw blockheads bungled the paper for Grossman". The
following day he announced the commencement of drawing on 5th January, "Because of the
stretcher and the client herself not being yet ready". However, it appears from his letter of 7th
January that work on the portrait had actually begun the day before. At the same time he
expressed his despondency and exasperation because of the model's unpunctuality ("because
the cow did not come"). He considered the 9th January sitting as decisive but complained that
he was "making rather slow progress". The last reference to the drawing of the portrait dates from
16th January. In most cases the news included the recurrent reference to the sum of 500 zlotys
2. S.l. Witkiewicz, Parę dość stosunkowo luźnych uwag o portrecie w ogóle i moich portretach w szczególności (A Few
Relatively Loose Remarks on the Portrait in General and on My Portraits in Particular), Introduction in Katalog wystawy
obrazów Tymona Niesiolowskigo i portretów Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza (Catalogue of the Exhibition of Pictures by
Tymon Niesiołowski and Portraits by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz). The Czesław Garliński Salon, Warszawa, 1 925. It was
rendered accessible to clients before the publication of the Firm's Regulations.
11