WITKACY - AN ARTIST OR A CAPITALIST?
Weronika Daniluk
"The gray, steel eyes now have an expression of tiredness, the face is elongated as if after an illness, the forehead is high, the hair is very grey – those are the symptoms of a man who uses a lot of time on mental work."
H. Ostrowski, St. I. Witkiewicz on the Theater of Pure Form. Interview of "Comoedia", "Comoedia" 1926, No. 26, p. 1; after: I. Jakimowicz, Witkacy. Painter, Warsaw 1985, p. 7.Ideas
1924 Witkacy paints a self-portrait The Last Cigarette of a Convict, which heralds the break with Pure Form painting and the beginning of the "capitalist's" career as the owner of the "S.I. Witkiewicz" Portrait Company - a forefather engaged in the production of portraits made to order. The opening of the company in 1928 was accompanied by a printout of the Regulations, which stated the rules of orders and relations between the customer and the manufacturer in 16 paragraphs. The motto of the Regulations was: "The customer must be satisfied. Misunderstandings are ruled out. The regulations are printed to save the company from saying the same things many times." (S. I. Witkiewicz, On the importance of philosophy for criticism and other polemical articles, edited by J. Leszczyński, Warsaw 1976, pp. 563-566. After: P. Piotrowski, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Warsaw 1989, p. 134.)
The company offered five types of portraits categorized by the letters of the alphabet from A to E. Type C, without a price list, was reserved only for the painter's friends and it was impossible to place a type C order otherwise. Witkacy created those most often under the influence of drugs of "higher form". These images came closest to the abandoned idea of Pure Form. The project of the Portrait Firm should not be understood only as a capitulation to the idea of high art or a satire on the conservative tastes of bourgeois clientele. Witkacy himself said that his portrait painting was a type of applied art, but it was always characterized by in-depth psychological study and, of course, by a high technical level. Witkacy carried out the classification of portraits with buhhalterian accuracy and a large dose of self-irony - precisely marking the type, and even measuring how much Pure Form (½ C, ¼ C) was in the work, and documenting his state at the time of creation.
Customer beware! You enter at your own risk. Before entering, read the Regulations. Below we present points of particular interest :
§ 3.
Any criticism by the customer is absolutely ruled out. The portrait may not appeal to the client, but the company cannot allow even the most modest comments without its special authorization. If the company allowed itself this luxury of listening to customers' opinions, it would have long gone crazy. We place special emphasis on this paragraph, because the most difficult thing is to stop the client from making completely unnecessary statements. The portrait is either accepted or rejected - yes or no, without any justification. Criticism also includes noting the similarity, or dissimilarity, remarks about the background, covering with your hand a part of the drawn face in order to imply that you do not like this part, saying such as "I'm too pretty" or "Am I this sad? "," This is not me ", everything in general, both positive and negative. After deliberation, possibly after consulting third parties, the customer says yes (or no) and it's over - then goes (or not) to the so-called "cashier", ie simply hands the company the agreed sum. The nerves of the company must be respected due to the incredible difficulty of this profession.
§ 10.
Customers are obliged to appear on time for screenings, as waiting has a negative effect on the company's mood and may have a negative impact on the artist's performance
§ 6.
Female portraits with bare necks and shoulders are one-third more expensive. Each hand costs a third of the price. As for portraits with hands or the whole figure - price to be negotiated.
§ 14.
An installment or promissory note agreement is not excluded. Due to the low prices anyway, claiming discounts is not desirable. Before starting the portrait, the client pays a third of the price as a down payment.
Cennik:
Type A = 300
Type B = 250
Type B+d = 150
Type E = 150-250
Type C = no price
Type D = 100
Children = 150-250
