Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885 Warsaw - 1939 Jeziory in Polesie), Portrait of a Woman

pastel, charcoal, paper, 62.5 x 46.5 in cm in light passe-partout
Signed and dated: Ign. Witkiewicz/ T.B. 1924
The featured painting is one of the portraits described by the artist as "a characteristic kind without the shadow of caricature...". The identity of the depicted woman is unknown. The background of the portrait, characteristic of the artist's works from this period, especially those made in Zakopane, is a synthetically rendered mountain landscape. It can therefore be presumed that it was in Zakopane that the image presented at the auction was created. The portrait of an elderly lady
made in 1924, is an extremely interesting example of the artist's work at a critical moment in his life - literally a moment before his heroic decision to give up strictly artistic work (...) in favor of commercial activity..." (from the expert opinion of Dr. Anna Żakiewicz)
Provenance: private collection, Poland. Deposited at the Museum of Central Pomerania in Slupsk from 2007 to 2017. The painting has the expertise of Dr. Anna Żakiewicz, a Witkacologist.