Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz

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Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz or Witkacy (born February 24, 1885 in Warsaw , † September 18, 1939 in Jeziory, Poland, today Welyki Osera in Dubrowyzja Rajon , Ukraine ) was a Polish writer , painter , photographer and philosopher .

history

Witkacy was born in Warsaw, but grew up in Zakopane , which was then part of the Austrian division. His father, Stanisław Witkiewicz , was an artist and his mother a musician, so that even in childhood he was strongly influenced by artistic influences, v. a. by the so-called Young Poland ( Młoda Polska ). In order to raise the son freely, the father did not send him to school, but taught him himself. Despite everything, he was able to pass a high school diploma and briefly studied at the art academy in Krakow . After his fiancée committed suicide in 1914, he traveled to Australia with his friend Bronisław Malinowski . In the autumn of the same year Witkiewicz went to Petersburg to the Pavlovsky regiment . After completing his training, he began to turn to art in 1915 and experienced the Russian Revolution in Petrograd .

Returning to Poland, he gave himself his stage name Witkacy and now concentrated entirely on art. In 1920 alone he wrote ten plays. In 1922 he married Jadwiga von Unrug, the granddaughter of the Polish painter Juliusz Kossak . However, his wife lived in Warsaw while he was in Zakopane. To make up for his lack of money, he founded the company "SI Witkiewicz" in Zakopane and painted portraits there. He often drew these under the influence of drugs. Whether he was also addicted to drugs is controversial. He always noted the type of drugs (based on their chemical formula) on the pictures. Depending on his mood, the pictures turned out very differently. Comments were incorporated, but the presentation of the images themselves varied. Perhaps that is precisely why it became so popular.

When Poland was attacked by the Germans in 1939 , he volunteered to mobilize . However, his age and health led to rejection. Therefore, he and his lover Czesława Oknińska fled to eastern Poland. When the territory was handed over to the Soviet Union , he killed himself with sleeping pills and cutting open his wrists. His lover, who was to go to death with him, survived her suicide attempt. Many of his works were lost during the war.

In 1988, his alleged body was brought to Zakopane and buried there. However, it later emerged that the body was that of an unknown Ukrainian woman.

reception

He received no recognition for his written works during his lifetime. Both critics and the general public mostly showed rejection and complete incomprehension of his works. For example, his writings were interpreted as interpretations of the future, as warnings against dictatorships and the restriction of human freedom, etc. Nothing is further from Witkiewicz. In his view, the barbarians are not at the gates. You won't come; they are already in town. The houses won't burn; they are already burning. And in the middle of the turmoil, Witkiewicz shoots his documentary with a cheap hand-held camera. The images are - necessarily - blurred and never in focus. Crazy distorted images emerge from impossible angles. However, the statements are always clear and easy to understand for all readers. At the end of insatiability , at the Chinese victory ceremony , the Polish officers are served rat tails in bug sauce and pounded cockroaches for dessert. The closing words of Farewell to Autumn are also clear (and unique) : Nevertheless, everything is fine, everything is fine. How? Not? It's fine, damn it, and if you deny it, you're going to get hit!

Today Witkacy is one of the most important writers of Polish modernism, alongside Witold Gombrowicz and Bruno Schulz, and is perceived as such internationally. In post-war Poland, the artist and playwright Tadeusz Kantor ( Theater of Death ) was heavily influenced by Witkacy.

In his main work, Insatiability , Witkiewicz invented the "Murti-Bing pills", which are said to contain a worldview in a condensed form. Whoever swallows the pills supposedly adopts this worldview without any restrictions, becomes cheerful and content and immune to any form of metaphysical concern. Czesław Miłosz uses the Murti-Bing pills as a central metaphor in his analysis of seduced thinking .

Exhibitions

  • Permanent exhibition: Muzeum Pomorza Środkowego w Słupsku ( Stolp Regional Museum ) - Poland
  • 2015: Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885–1939). Works on paper in the Berinson Gallery, Berlin (September 12th to October 31st),

painting

Philosophical and scientific works

  • Nowe formy w malarstwie i wynikające stąd nieporozumienia (1919) ( New forms in painting and the misunderstandings arising from them. Theory of pure form )
  • Szkice estetyczne (1922) ( Aesthetic Sketches )
  • Narkotyki - niemyte dusze ( narcotics - unwashed thoughts )
  • Pojęcia i twierdzenia implikowane przez pojęcie istnienia (1935) ( Terms and assertions implied by the term existence )
  • Zagadnienie psychofizyczne (1938) ( Psychophysical Problems )

Literary works

a) Major dramas:

  • Tumor Mózgowicz ( premiered 1921)
  • Kurka vodna ( premiered 1922, German: The coot )
  • W małym dworku ( premiered 1923, German: In a small country house )
  • Wariat i zakonnica ( premiered 1924, German: The Fool and the Nun )
  • Jan Maciej Karol Wścieklica ( premiered 1925)
  • Szewcy (1934, premiered 1957, German: Die Schuster )
  • Matka (1924, premiered 1964, German: the mother )
  • Gyubal Wahazar (1921, premiered 1966, German also udT: Gjubal Zauderzar )

German: pieces . Transl. And ed. by Henryk Bereska. Berlin (East) 1962.

  • German: All pieces in German / Polish in four volumes. Transl. And ed. by Makarczyk & Schuster.
  • Pieces Bd. 1 udT "The afterlife has been taken from us". Munich 2006.
  • Pieces Vol. 2 udT "We don't need any afterlife". Munich 2009.
  • Pieces Bd. 3 udT "A Touch of Beyond". Munich / Berlin 2010.
  • Pieces Bd. 4 udT "Why did you come here from the beyond?". Munich / Berlin 2012.

b) novels:

  • 622 Upadki Bunga czyli demoniczna kobieta . Warsaw 1972.
  • Pożegnanie jesieni (1927). In German translation Abschied vom Herbst , Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-03112-9 .
  • Nienasycenie (1930). In German translation: Insatiability . With a foreword by Witold Gombrowicz , Piper Verlag, Munich 1966.
  • Jedyne wyjście (1932/33)

Film adaptations

  • Mariusz Trelinski filmed Pożegnanie jesieni (premiere 1990, German: Farewell to autumn )
  • Wiktor Grodecki filmed Nienasycenie (German: insatiability )
  • Andrzej Kotkowski filmed W starym dworku, czyli niepodległość trójkątów (Premiere: 1985, German: In the old manor house, or: The independence of the triangles )

Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz Prize

This award is given every year by the Polish Institute of the International Theater Institute for "Outstanding Achievements in Promoting Polish Theater in the World".

References

Web links

Commons : Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz: Farewell to Autumn , Reclam, Leipzig 1991, p. 452
  2. Czeslaw Milosz: Seduced Thinking , Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1959
  3. http://berinson.de/exhibitions/witkiewicz/
  4. ^ La MaMa theater founder gets Polish award , accessed March 16, 2015