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#0026
11. S.l. Witkiewicz, Porłrait of Leon Reynel, 1925, type D, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe
principles. After all, with Witkacy everything brushed against the self-defensive mechanism of
a joke, and the picture itself, containing an exemplary analysis of the duality of existence, could
escape the explicitness of such an interpretation.
I should add in conclusion that there is yet another duality in the picture, the duality of the
artisfs own attitude. Commissioned to do a portrait according to a design chosen by the model,
Witkacy escapes his role of artist in the service of the model, and even turns the situation around
so that the model helps him in creating his own conception. This picture like none other of his
paintings reveals the mechanisms of Witkacy's portrait art and the links his painting had with his
own literary output.
Translated by Krystyna Malcharek
24
principles. After all, with Witkacy everything brushed against the self-defensive mechanism of
a joke, and the picture itself, containing an exemplary analysis of the duality of existence, could
escape the explicitness of such an interpretation.
I should add in conclusion that there is yet another duality in the picture, the duality of the
artisfs own attitude. Commissioned to do a portrait according to a design chosen by the model,
Witkacy escapes his role of artist in the service of the model, and even turns the situation around
so that the model helps him in creating his own conception. This picture like none other of his
paintings reveals the mechanisms of Witkacy's portrait art and the links his painting had with his
own literary output.
Translated by Krystyna Malcharek
24