About This Artwork

Stanislaw Witkiewicz
Polish, 1885-1939

Arthur Rubinstein, Zakopane, 1913/14

Varnished carbon print
18 x 13 cm
Laura T. Magnuson Endowment, 1994.44

A brilliant and eccentric playwright, painter, and novelist, Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz also worked extensively with photography in 1910–14 and again around 1930. His intimate portraits of friends, such as the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, were taken at his family residence in Zakopane, a Galician vacation town. They concentrate on the inner spirit of the subject while pointedly ignoring conventional appearances; at times, as here, they seem even to blur distinctions between masculine and feminine posture or address. Prescient and daring, these portraits, made as gifts for friends, remained unexhibited and unpublished during Witkiewicz’s lifetime.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

AIC, "Crossing the Line: Photography Reconsidered," January 29 - June 4, 2000, (David Travis).

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art "FOTO: Modernity in Central Europe," June 10 - September 3, 2007; traveled to the Guggenheim Museum, October 5, 2007 - January 2, 2008; The Milwaukee Art Museum, February 2 - April 27, 2008; and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, June 7 - August 31, 2008.

AIC, "Photography on Display: Modern Treasures," May 9–September 13, 2009.

Publication History

Witkovsky, Matthew S. 2007. "Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945." Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington. pl. 3.