Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz Exhibition
Robert Miller Gallery
This event has ended.
While his earliest pictures were of trains, it was not long before Witkiewicz turned his lens toward family and nature. In his early, moody landscapes and seascapes (made before 1905), Witkiewicz experimented with perspective, depth of field and lighting as well as with various photographic processes. He then transferred what he had learned to the close-up portraits and self-portraits that he made several years later. Between 1911 and 1914 Witkiewicz moved into a period of transition and intense introspection during which he created a loose series of photographs of himself, his family and close friends. Having altered his camera with a piece of water pipe to make it more amenable to close-ups, Witkiewicz was able to frame the face with an intensity that had not previously been possible. He created portraits that sought to penetrate the soul of the sitter by focusing particular attention on the eyes, at once building upon the work of his predecessors in the medium and rupturing the conventions of the portrait tradition. The psychological and spiritual intensity of these pictures is intentional. In many cases the sitter ceases to be a specific individual and, instead, the visage becomes the image of distilled transcendence. In his self-portraits something slightly different happens, as we are acutely aware of the fact that the observed is also the observer. Similarly, the viewer experiences the odd sensation of being viewed.
Themes relating to the fragmentation and the exploration of identity recur not only in Witkiewicz’s art, writing and photography, but in the work of others who succeeded him. Although many explored such ideas, Witkiewicz’s consistent pursuit of questions surrounding the self make him a prophetic figure in 20th century art.
[Image: Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewic (1923) Vintage gelatin silver print, 8 7/8 x 7 3/8 in.]
Media
Schedule
from February 18, 2012 to March 01, 2012