During this time, Witkacy began to express his
artistic vision through photography. His first
photographs, not unlike his early paintings, were
in the ‘‘reported’’ style, faithfully representing the
subject. The subjects in this period include studies
of nature (e.g., landscapes, lakes, rivers, and moun-
tains), trains, castles, and portraits. Around 1910,
the artist began experimenting with the lens creat-
ing a new approach to portrait photography cap-
turing the subject’s face by creating a sequence of
posed close-ups. The best known of these are a
series of close ups of his father and Tadeusz Lan-
gier. The new technique was most likely inspired by
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879), whose work
was well known to the Witkiewicz family. (The
elder Witkiewicz owned an album of her photogra-
phy.) Cameron’s oscillation between aspiring to
faithfully represent the external look of the subject
and the treatment of a model as representation of
symbolic form most certainly had an impact on the
young Witkacy, who, like Cameron years earlier,
connected the objective value of photography and
the imagination of the photographer.
Between 1910 and 1917, Witkacy continued to
develop a very unique personal style of portrait
photography. Influenced by Tadeusz Langier, a
well-known innovative photographer of the time,
Witkacy explored new techniques such as gum
print, over- and under-exposure, reducing the gray
scale, cropping, blurring the photographs, and tight
close ups. The subjects of his works primarily
include self-portraits, friends, and family. This evo-
lution in his development is the beginning of his
psychological or ‘‘metaphysical’’ portraits that
abandon faithful representation of the subject.
In 1914, Witkacy’s friend, anthropologist Bronis-
law Malinowski, received a grant from the British
Association for the Advancement of Science to work
in Australia and Papua (New Guinea) among the
Mailu people. Witkacy accompanied his dear friend
on the journey as a photographer and draftsman.
The expedition ended with the outbreak of World
War I on July 18, 1914. Since Poland was partitioned
at the time, Witkacy, born in Warsaw, was a Russian
citizen. As a result, he enlisted in the Russian army in
which he experienced first hand the horrors of war
and revolution. A very famous photograph survived
in this period,Multiple self-portrait(St. Petersburg,
around 1915), in which Witkacy is seated in front of
two mirrors that were set side by side at an angle,
resulting in four reflections of the artist from differ-
ent perspectives. One critic argued that this portrait
reveals Witkacy in all of his careening manifestations
as a photographer, dramatist, painter, and philoso-
pher. Interestingly, the viewer does not see the real
Witkacy, only his back, reinforcing the artist’s con-
cern with impossibility of establishing stable identity
of self.
The final period of Witkacy’s photography, and
perhaps the most interesting, is closely linked to his
philosophy. Upon returning from the service in the
military, Witkacy spent considerable effort articu-
lating his ontology and philosophy of art. In his
aesthetic works, he developed the famous theory of
Pure Form in which he claimed that through the
experience of true art an individual intensifies his
or her feelings of individuality and affirms his or
her own uniqueness in the face of an alien universe.
As a result of this experience, the individual re-
stores temporarily what Witkacy called the Meta-
physical Feeling of the Strangeness of Existence,
which simultaneously creates a feeling of alienation
and a childlike sense of wonder about the unique-
ness of self. With this in mind, his photographs of
the 1920s and 1930s can be divided into two cate-
gories: metaphysical portraits and ‘‘Life Theater.’’
The metaphysical portraits are psychological
interpretations of the subject revealing the fragile
sense of identity of self and consequently a heigh-
tened awareness of the mystery and horror of exis-
tence, often visible in the eyes of the subject. On the
other hand, the Life Theater photographs are comi-
cal poses revealing life as adventure, play, a game,
and infinite possibilities.
Witkacy’s life ended tragically as he took his own
life in the small village Jeziory (in present day
Ukraine) on September 18, 1939, when the Nazis
approached from the west and the Russians attacked
from the east. He was buried in a makeshift grave in
an Orthodox cemetery. His photographs are main-
tained mostly in private collections. The largest pub-
lic collection is found in the Tatrzanskie Museum in
his hometown of Zakopane. Although he was not
well known for his photography in his lifetime or
even in his revival in the early 1960s, since the
1980s, his photography has been increasingly the
subject of scholarly essays and book length studies
as well as exhibitions all over the globe. He deserves,
and has certainly earned, a unique and respected
position amongst the luminaries in the history of
modern photography.
MarkRudnicki
Seealso:Photography in Russia and Eastern EuropeBiography
Born in Warsaw, Poland 14 February 1885. Died in Jeziory,
(in present day) Ukraine, 18 September 1939. Attended
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland, but neverWITKIEWICZ (WITKACY), STANISLAW IGNACY