Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz
Encyclopedia
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, a.k.a. "Witkacy" (February 24, 1885 – September 18, 1939) was a Polish
playwright, novelist, painter, photographer and philosopher.
, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz was the son of painter, architect and art critic Stanisław Witkiewicz. His godmother was the internationally famous actress Helena Modrzejewska.
Witkiewicz was reared at the family home in Zakopane
. In accordance with his father's antipathy
to the "servitude of the school," the boy was home-schooled
and encouraged to develop his talents across a range of creative fields.
Witkiewicz was close friends with Karol Szymanowski
and, from childhood, with Bronisław Malinowski and Zofia Romer
.
Following a crisis in Witkiewicz's personal life due to the suicide of his fiancée Jadwiga Janczewska, he was invited by Malinowski to act as draftsman and photographer on a 1914 expedition to Oceania
, a venture that was interrupted by the onset of World War I
.
On his return, Witkiewicz, a citizen of the Russian Empire
, went to St Petersburg and was commissioned an officer in the Imperial army. His ailing father, a Polish nationalist, was deeply grieved by the youngster's decision and died in 1915 without seeing his son again.
Witkiewicz lived through the Russian Revolution
in St Petersburg. He claimed that he worked out his philosophical principles during an artillery barrage, and that when the Revolution broke out he was elected political commissar
of his regiment. His later works would show his fear of social revolution and foreign invasion, often couched in absurdist
language.
He had begun to support himself through portrait painting and continued to do so on his return to Zakopane in Poland
. He soon entered into a major creative phase, setting out his principles in New Forms in Painting and Introduction to the Theory of Pure Form in the Theatre. He associated with a group of "formist" artists in the early 1920s and wrote most of his plays during this period. Of about forty plays written by Witkiewicz between 1918 and 1925, twenty-one survive, and only Jan Maciej Karol Hellcat met with any public success during the author's lifetime. The original Polish manuscript of The Crazy Locomotive was also lost; the play, back-translated from two French versions, was not published until 1962.
After 1925, and taking the name 'Witkacy', the artist ironically re-branded the paintings which provided his economic sustenance as The S.I. Witkiewicz Portrait Painting Firm, with the motto: "The customer must always be satisfied". Several grades of portrait were offered, from the merely representational to the more expressionistic
and the narcotics assisted. Many of his paintings were annotated with mnemonics listing the drugs taken while painting a particular painting, even if this happened to be only a cup of coffee. He also varied the spelling of his name, signing himself Witkac, Witkatze, Witkacjusz, Vitkacius and Vitecasse — the last being French for "breaks quickly".
In the late 1920s he turned to the novel, writing two works, Farewell to Autumn and Insatiability
. The latter major work encompasses geopolitics, psychoactive drugs, and philosophy.
During the 1930s, Witkiewicz published a text on his experiences of narcotics, including peyote
, and pursued his interests in philosophy. He also promoted emerging writers such as Bruno Schulz
. Shortly after Poland
was invaded by Nazi Germany
in September 1939, he escaped with his young lover Czesława to the rural frontier
town of Jeziory, in what was then eastern Poland
. After hearing the news of the Soviet invasion of Poland
on September 17, 1939, Witkacy committed suicide on September 18 by taking a drug overdose and trying to slit his wrists. He convinced Czesława to attempt suicide with him by consuming Luminal
, but she survived.
Witkiewicz had died in some obscurity but his reputation began to rise soon after the war, which had destroyed his life and devastated Poland. Czesław Miłosz framed his argument in The Captive Mind
around a discussion of Witkiewicz's novel, Insatiability. The artist and theater director Tadeusz Kantor
was inspired by the Cricot group, through which Witkiewicz had presented his final plays in Kraków
. Kantor brought many of the plays back into currency, first in Poland and then internationally.
In the postwar period, Communist Poland's Ministry of Culture decided to exhume Witkiewicz's body, move it to Zakopane
, and give it a solemn funeral. This was carried out according to plan, though no one was allowed to open the coffin that had been delivered by the Soviet
authorities.
On November 26, 1994, the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art
ordered the exhumation of the presumed grave of Witkiewicz in Zakopane. Genetic tests on the remaining bones proved that the body had belonged to an unknown woman — a final absurdist
joke, fifty years after the publication of Witkacy's last novel.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
playwright, novelist, painter, photographer and philosopher.
Life
Born in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz was the son of painter, architect and art critic Stanisław Witkiewicz. His godmother was the internationally famous actress Helena Modrzejewska.
Zakopane
Zakopane , is a town in southern Poland. It lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998 it was in of Nowy Sącz Province, but since 1999 it has been in Lesser Poland Province. It had a population of about 28,000 as of 2004. Zakopane is a...
. In accordance with his father's antipathy
Antipathy
Antipathy is dislike for something or somebody, the opposite of sympathy. While antipathy may be induced by previous experience, it sometimes exists without a rational cause-and-effect explanation being present to the individuals involved....
to the "servitude of the school," the boy was home-schooled
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
and encouraged to develop his talents across a range of creative fields.
Witkiewicz was close friends with Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
and, from childhood, with Bronisław Malinowski and Zofia Romer
Zofia Romer
Zofia Romer , née Zofia Dembowska. Well regarded Polish painter. She was born in 1885 in Estonia to well-known physician Tadeusz Dembowski and his wife Matylda. She grew up in Lithuania and Poland studying under various painters...
.
Following a crisis in Witkiewicz's personal life due to the suicide of his fiancée Jadwiga Janczewska, he was invited by Malinowski to act as draftsman and photographer on a 1914 expedition to Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, a venture that was interrupted by the onset of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
On his return, Witkiewicz, a citizen of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, went to St Petersburg and was commissioned an officer in the Imperial army. His ailing father, a Polish nationalist, was deeply grieved by the youngster's decision and died in 1915 without seeing his son again.
Witkiewicz lived through the Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
in St Petersburg. He claimed that he worked out his philosophical principles during an artillery barrage, and that when the Revolution broke out he was elected political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
of his regiment. His later works would show his fear of social revolution and foreign invasion, often couched in absurdist
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...
language.
He had begun to support himself through portrait painting and continued to do so on his return to Zakopane in Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. He soon entered into a major creative phase, setting out his principles in New Forms in Painting and Introduction to the Theory of Pure Form in the Theatre. He associated with a group of "formist" artists in the early 1920s and wrote most of his plays during this period. Of about forty plays written by Witkiewicz between 1918 and 1925, twenty-one survive, and only Jan Maciej Karol Hellcat met with any public success during the author's lifetime. The original Polish manuscript of The Crazy Locomotive was also lost; the play, back-translated from two French versions, was not published until 1962.
After 1925, and taking the name 'Witkacy', the artist ironically re-branded the paintings which provided his economic sustenance as The S.I. Witkiewicz Portrait Painting Firm, with the motto: "The customer must always be satisfied". Several grades of portrait were offered, from the merely representational to the more expressionistic
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
and the narcotics assisted. Many of his paintings were annotated with mnemonics listing the drugs taken while painting a particular painting, even if this happened to be only a cup of coffee. He also varied the spelling of his name, signing himself Witkac, Witkatze, Witkacjusz, Vitkacius and Vitecasse — the last being French for "breaks quickly".
In the late 1920s he turned to the novel, writing two works, Farewell to Autumn and Insatiability
Insatiability
Insatiability is a major novel by the Polish writer, dramatist, philosopher, painter and photographer, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz . Nienasycenie was written in 1927 and first published in 1930. It is his third novel, considered by many to be his best...
. The latter major work encompasses geopolitics, psychoactive drugs, and philosophy.
During the 1930s, Witkiewicz published a text on his experiences of narcotics, including peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, and pursued his interests in philosophy. He also promoted emerging writers such as Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz was a Polish writer, fine artist, literary critic and art teacher born to Jewish parents, and regarded as one of the great Polish-language prose stylists of the 20th century. Schulz was born in Drohobycz, in the province of Galicia then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and spent...
. Shortly after Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
was invaded by Nazi Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in September 1939, he escaped with his young lover Czesława to the rural frontier
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
town of Jeziory, in what was then eastern Poland
History of Poland (1918–1939)
The History of interwar Poland comprises the period from the re-recreation of the independent Polish state in 1918, until the joint Invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II...
. After hearing the news of the Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
on September 17, 1939, Witkacy committed suicide on September 18 by taking a drug overdose and trying to slit his wrists. He convinced Czesława to attempt suicide with him by consuming Luminal
Phenobarbital
Phenobarbital or phenobarbitone is a barbiturate, first marketed as Luminal by Friedr. Bayer et comp. It is the most widely used anticonvulsant worldwide, and the oldest still commonly used. It also has sedative and hypnotic properties but, as with other barbiturates, has been superseded by the...
, but she survived.
Witkiewicz had died in some obscurity but his reputation began to rise soon after the war, which had destroyed his life and devastated Poland. Czesław Miłosz framed his argument in The Captive Mind
The Captive Mind
The Captive Mind is a 1953 work of nonfiction by Polish writer, academic and Nobel laureate, Czesław Miłosz, translated into English by Jane Zielonko and originally published by Secker and Warburg. The book was written soon after the author received political asylum in Paris following his break...
around a discussion of Witkiewicz's novel, Insatiability. The artist and theater director Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter, assemblage artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad.- Life and career :...
was inspired by the Cricot group, through which Witkiewicz had presented his final plays in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. Kantor brought many of the plays back into currency, first in Poland and then internationally.
In the postwar period, Communist Poland's Ministry of Culture decided to exhume Witkiewicz's body, move it to Zakopane
Zakopane
Zakopane , is a town in southern Poland. It lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998 it was in of Nowy Sącz Province, but since 1999 it has been in Lesser Poland Province. It had a population of about 28,000 as of 2004. Zakopane is a...
, and give it a solemn funeral. This was carried out according to plan, though no one was allowed to open the coffin that had been delivered by the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
authorities.
On November 26, 1994, the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland was formed on 31 October 2005, from transformation of Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland.The ministry is concerned with various aspects of Polish culture....
ordered the exhumation of the presumed grave of Witkiewicz in Zakopane. Genetic tests on the remaining bones proved that the body had belonged to an unknown woman — a final absurdist
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...
joke, fifty years after the publication of Witkacy's last novel.
Criticism
- (1919), translated into English as New Forms in Painting and the Misunderstandings Arising Therefrom (in The Witkiewicz Reader, Quartet, 1993)
- Szkice estetyczne (Aesthetic Sketches, 1922)
Novels
- 622 Upadki Bunga czyli demoniczna kobieta (1911) partial translation into English as The 622 Downfalls of Bungo or The Demonic Woman (in The Witkiewicz Reader)
- Pożegnanie jesieni (1927) partial translation into English as Farewell to Autumn (in The Witkiewicz Reader)
- NienasycenieInsatiabilityInsatiability is a major novel by the Polish writer, dramatist, philosopher, painter and photographer, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz . Nienasycenie was written in 1927 and first published in 1930. It is his third novel, considered by many to be his best...
(1930) translated into English as Insatiability (Quartet Encounter, 1985)
Plays
- Maciej Korbowa i Bellatrix (Maciej Korbowa and Bellatrix)(1918)
- Pragmatyści (1919) (translated into English as The Pragmatists)
- Mister Price, czyli Bzik tropikalny (1920) (translated into English as Mr Price, or Tropical Madness)
- Tumor Mózgowicz (1920) (translated into English as Tumor Brainiowicz)
- Nowe wyzwolenie (1920) (translated into English as The New Deliverance)
- Oni (1920) (translated into English as They)
- Panna Tutli-Putli (1920) (Miss Tootli-Pootli)
- W małym dworku (1921) (translated into English as Country House)
- Niepodległość trójkątów (1921) (translated into English as The Independence of Triangles)
- Metafizykja dwugłowego cielęcia (1921) (translated into English as Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf)
- Gyubal Wahazar, czyli Na przełęczach bezsensu (translated into English as Gyubal Wahazar, or Along the Cliffs of the Absurd: A Non-Euclidean Drama in Four Acts) (1921)
- Kurka Wodna (1921) (Translated into English as The Water Hen)
- Bezimienne dzieło (1921) (translated into English as The Anonymous Work: Four Acts of a Rather Nasty Nightmare)
- Mątwa (1922) (translated into English as The Cuttlefish, or The Hyrcanian World View)
- Nadobnisie i koczkodany, czyli Zielona pigułka (1922) (Translated into English as Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes, or The Green Pill: A Comedy with Corpses)
- Jan Maciej Karol Wścieklica (1922) (translated into English as Jan Maciej Karol Hellcat)
- Wariat i zakonnica (1923) (translated into English as The Madman and the Nun)
- Szalona lokomotywa (1923) (translated into English as The Crazy Locomotive)
- Janulka, córka Fizdejki (1923) (translated into English as Janulka, Daughter of Fizdejko)
- Matka (1924) translated into English as The Mother (in The Mother & Other Unsavoury Plays, Applause, 1993)
- Sonata Belzebuba (1925) (translated into English as The Beelzebub Sonata)
- Szewcy (1931–34) translated into English as The Shoemakers (in The Mother & Other Unsavoury Plays, Applause, 1993)
Other works
- Narkotyki — niemyte dusze (1932), partial translation into English as Narcotics (in The Witkiewicz Reader)
- Pojęcia i twierdzenia implikowane przez pojęcie istnienia (Concepts and Statements Implied by the Idea of Existence) (1935)
- Jedyne wyjście
- Kompozycia fantastyczna
- Pocałunek mongolskiego księcia
Performance of Plays
- The Crazy Locomotive (Szalona lokomotywa) received its New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
premier at the Chelsea TheatreChelsea TheatreChelsea Theatre is a studio theatre located on the Kings Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. It presents, commissions, and produces new work and is the only theatre in London dedicated to Performance Art...
in 1977, under the direction of Des McAnuffDes McAnuffDesmond McAnuff is the Canadian-American artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and director of musical theatre of such Broadway productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.-Biography:...
. The Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
-winning production starred Dwight SchultzDwight SchultzWilliam Dwight Schultz is an American stage, television, film actor, and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock on the 1980s action show The A-Team, and as Reginald Barclay in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and the film Star Trek: First...
, Bob DeFrank and Glenn CloseGlenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
in leading roles.
- The Theatre Off-Park staged two New York premiers of Witkacy plays: The Madman and the Nun (Wariat i zakonnica) in 1979, under the direction of Paul Berman and The Water Hen (Kurka Wodna), directed by Brad MaysBrad MaysBrad Mays is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California.-Background and education:...
in 1983. Broadway producer / Theatre Off-Park managing director Patricia Flynn Peate produced both plays, which were well-received by critics and audiences alike. Future New York Times theatre critic Mark Matousek, then writing for the theatrical journal Other Stages, praised The Water Hen for "masterful comic direction," and the piece was videotaped for permanent inclusion in the Lincoln Center's Billy Rose Theatre Collection.
- The Jean Cocteau Repertory presented the New York premier of The Shoemakers (Szewcy), under the direction of Włodzimierz Herman in 1987.
- The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre presented The Madman and the Nun in 1989 at Summer Music from Greensborough a Classical Music Festival in Greensborough , Vermont and in Boston at The Charlestown Working Theatre. Directed by Jonathan Edward Cross {a.k.a. Jonny ClockWorks}. The production used Actors along side Life-sized Puppets. Two of the original Puppet Figures are in the collection of the Witkacy Teatre in Zarkopane' Poland.
- La MaMa ETC presented the New York premiere of Witkacy's Tumor Brainiowicz, performed by The Theatre Of A Two-Headed Calf (named after the Witkacy play Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf), under the direction of Brooke O'Harra. This production was followed by Witkacy's The Mother in 2003, also under O'Harra's direction and also a New York premier. The production featured puppets and video.
See also
- History of philosophy in Poland
- Culture of KrakówCulture of KrakówKraków is considered by many to be the cultural capital of Poland. It was named the European Capital of Culture by European Union for the year 2000. The city has some of the best museums in the country and several famous theaters...
- List of Poles
- Mononymous personsMononymous personsA mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name". In some cases, that name has been selected by the individual, who may have originally been given a polynym...
Further reading
- Łozińska Hempel, Maria (1986). Z łańcucha wspomnień. Wydawnictwo Literackie.
External links
- Witkacy's portraits
- 26 pages of paintings
- Witkiewicz & Futurism - The Crazy Locomotive
- Witkacy's artwork at malarze.com
- Billy Rose Collection - Theatre Archives The Water Hen, 1985, in New York City
- Production Photos from Theatre Off Park's production of The Water Hen, 1985, in New York City