[Self-Portrait]

Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz

1912, printed later · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

A prolific painter and photographer, dramatist and philosopher, Witkiewicz remains a legendary figure in Polish cultural history not only for his multifaceted talent but also for his bohemian lifestyle and eccentric personality. Throughout his life, he made hundreds of self-portraits-sketches, paintings, and photographs-characterized by a searing self-scrutiny and existential anguish. Taken with a view camera with its lens extended by a rain pipe, this image is characteristic of the searching photographic portraits he made between 1912 and 1914, a period culminating in the suicide of his fiancée. Witkiewicz himself took his own life on the eve of World War II.

Artist

Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz

Date

1912, printed later

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Denise and Andrew Saul Gift, 2005