Stanislaw Ignacy WITKIEWICZ (WITKACY)

PORTRAIT OF JANINA TUROWSKA-LESZCZYŃSKA, 1933
Pastel, light beige paper; 64.4 x 49.5 cm Signed p.d.: NP / (TC Co) / Witkacy / 1933 I On back: ND5218; typescript sticker: typescript: National Museum in Cracow / Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) / Portrait of a Woman(?) / N.D.5218 Condition: scratches, minor paper tears Image exhibited, inscribed: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, National Museum Krakow, 1980, cat. item 276 Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, National Museum Warsaw, 1990, cat. item I 1704 Witkacy met Janina Turowska (1910-1944), known as Inka, at the end of 1928. She had been living in Zakopane since 1922 with her mother Janina, a nurse at the Red Cross Sanatorium, and her older sister Felicia. Both maidens were at risk of tuberculosis, from which, incidentally, their father, Felicia, died (1919). The artist initially adored the older of the sisters, but soon his chosen one was the younger one, who displayed acting skills and studied dance at Rita Sacchetto's ballet school. Witkacy, enchanted by the beauty and charm of the young Inca, even thought about divorcing his wife to marry her. However, the girl eventually chose the philosopher Jan Leszczynski, a friend of the artist and professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, with whom she married on March 20, 1933. This caused Witkacy to break off his social relations with both of them for more than four years. Before that, the artist spent a lot of time with Inka and made nearly 50 portraits of her - both realistic, paying homage to her beauty, and deformed to varying degrees. The offered painting was the property of Jan Leszczynski, and was in the depository of the National Museum in Cracow from 1961 to 1990. The notation on the painting according to the rules of the Portrait Company means: "NP" - the author did not smoke at the time; "TC=Co" the author took cocaine, the characterization of the model is subjective, caricature enhancements both formal and psychological not excluded, in the border of the abstract composition, the so-called "Pure Form". Asking price 150000 Estimate 180000 - 2000000