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#0020
7. SA. Witkiewicz, Portrait of Henryka Staroniewicz against a lanscape composition, 1 925,
type A. Picture probably lost (Photo courtesy of Mr Stefan Okotowicz)
her feet, against the background of a vast landscape with castles rising above the water. An
additional peculiarity is the action introduced into the composition — a specific scenę of
execution laid in a different dimension, as though it were a puppet-show on a tree stump.
The Grossman portrait which is anaiogous in generał composition, also contains a peculiar
action of somewhat theatrical character. However, here the model is not merely an unconcerned
witness to what is happening in another space. Although she holds herself haughtily aloof and
pretends indifference, the action encompasses the same space, concerns her directly, and much
as it appears mysterious, its significance is possible to read. It is not only a genre scenę reporting
a stitting for a portrait. The Witkacy portraying the model in the picture turns toward the viewer
with a theatrical gesture in order to impart to him some more information and demonstrates
legibly, though with a not quite unmistakable air, where the main plot of the picture is
developing. Moreover, it is to be noted that although Witkacy places his own figurę in the same
space in which his model is seated he reserves for himself the role as it were of a mere
commentator. Drawn only in black outline and somewhat less corporeal, he is in fact no more
than a carrier of ideas, a sign that the author actually exists outside the picture. What the artist
mainly intends to communicate here is his conviction of the omnipresent duality of the world and
human existence.
Witkacy's dualistic ontology permeated his entire outlook, the understanding of his own
personality, and his whole literary output. Each character of his novels or plays cultivates his
second self, freguently troublesome, who, albeit closely and inseparably bound with him, is at
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type A. Picture probably lost (Photo courtesy of Mr Stefan Okotowicz)
her feet, against the background of a vast landscape with castles rising above the water. An
additional peculiarity is the action introduced into the composition — a specific scenę of
execution laid in a different dimension, as though it were a puppet-show on a tree stump.
The Grossman portrait which is anaiogous in generał composition, also contains a peculiar
action of somewhat theatrical character. However, here the model is not merely an unconcerned
witness to what is happening in another space. Although she holds herself haughtily aloof and
pretends indifference, the action encompasses the same space, concerns her directly, and much
as it appears mysterious, its significance is possible to read. It is not only a genre scenę reporting
a stitting for a portrait. The Witkacy portraying the model in the picture turns toward the viewer
with a theatrical gesture in order to impart to him some more information and demonstrates
legibly, though with a not quite unmistakable air, where the main plot of the picture is
developing. Moreover, it is to be noted that although Witkacy places his own figurę in the same
space in which his model is seated he reserves for himself the role as it were of a mere
commentator. Drawn only in black outline and somewhat less corporeal, he is in fact no more
than a carrier of ideas, a sign that the author actually exists outside the picture. What the artist
mainly intends to communicate here is his conviction of the omnipresent duality of the world and
human existence.
Witkacy's dualistic ontology permeated his entire outlook, the understanding of his own
personality, and his whole literary output. Each character of his novels or plays cultivates his
second self, freguently troublesome, who, albeit closely and inseparably bound with him, is at
18