Stanislaw I. Witkiewicz (1885 Warsaw - 1939 Jeziory in Polesia), Portrait of a Woman, 1923

pastel, brown paper, 58.8 × 49.5 cm
Signed and dated p. g.: Ignacy Witkiewicz/T.B +A [in circle]/1923

Provenance:
Private collection, Poland.

Attached to the painting is an expert opinion by Dr. Anna Żakiewicz
"Among the most common types of portraits were those marked with the letter B - defined by the artist as "a characteristic kind, without a shadow of caricature[m] with some undercutting of characteristic features, which does not exclude prettiness' in female portraits. Relationship to the model objective." So it was a realistic image, fully consistent not only with the appearance of the person portrayed, but also with the expectations and taste of the client of the time, who was mostly from the wealthy bourgeoisie. Sometimes, during a portrait session, Witkacy would change his mind about the conventions of the image and make "mixtures" of types; to the originally agreed upon one, he would add another - in the case of the 1923 portrait of a woman, it was type A - "a relatively most 'licked' type. Suitable for female rather than male faces. 'Smooth' execution, with some loss of character in favor of embellishment, or emphasis on 'prettiness.' Indeed - the woman's face, neck and cleavage are exceptionally carefully worked out, but one should not forget that according to the Company's Price List, portraits of type A were 100 zlotys more expensive than portraits of type B, which also cost quite a lot - 250 zlotys, which was the equivalent of a decent monthly salary at the time. In turn, the artist was under financial pressure at the time, as on April 30, 1923, he married Jadwiga Unrugówna, who, along with Witkacy's mother, Maria Witkiewiczowa, was dependent on him. Not surprisingly, he was intrigued to raise the price of his service. (...) The portrait of the woman, made in 1923, is thus an extremely interesting example of the artist's work at a crucial time in his life - the year of his marriage, a year before he definitively stopped practicing oil painting, and two years before he officially started the Portrait Company, whose principles he had already fully formulated at the time." (excerpted from Dr. Anna Żakiewicz's expert report dated 11.06.2019)