Obrazy wielopłaszczyznowe Tytusa Czyżewskiego

Abstract

Tytus Czyżewski created multi-plane pictures that became unique elements grown in the milieu of Formists, artistic group active between 1917 and 1922. Unfortunately, none of those pictures survived till today, and the sole documentation constitute six photographs of them.

Czyżewski started working on his multi-plane paintings as early as 1915, after he returned from Paris. At that time the first drawings were created; they demonstrated the path of the artist’s searching that finally led him to multi-plane paintings. Among the works within this group were Madonna, Głowa [The head], and Autoportret formistyczny [Formist self-portrait], characterized by breaking the form and its reassignment with concurrent presentation of several views, which refered to the works created within the circle of Cubists. This mode of depiction was employed in the following works Portret (Głowa) [Portrait (head)] and Salome, characterized by inscribing the motif within a geometric figure depicted on a plane. The concept was discussed by the artist himself in a theoretic text Salome. (Obraz wielopłaszczyznowy) [Salome (multi-plane picture)] (1919), in which Czyżewski pointed to the need of replacing traditional paintings with pictures constructed with several planes. The points at which the planes were joined were to be further stressed with lines, thus creating a rhythm that replaced the humdrum of former pictures. Until then, the idea was carried out only on canvas and cardboard and was developed in later works that literally went beyond a single plane. In Kompozycja form II. (Obraz wielopłaszczyznowy) [The composition of forms (multi-plane picture)] the artist connected flat and spatial elements that on numerous occasions were fragments of objects. Multi-plane pictures by Czyżewski, painted first on a plane and then constructed from various materials, were the boldest example of experimentation in Polish art. They demonstrated the need to exceed the traditional concept of painting, characteristic for avant-garde artists, e.g. Alexandre Archipenko and his sculpto-paintings.Czyżewski started working on his multi-plane paintings as early as 1915, after he returned from Paris. At that time the first drawings were created; they demonstrated the path of the artist’s searching that finally led him to multi-plane paintings. Among the works within this group were Madonna, Głowa [The head], and Autoportret formistyczny [Formist self-portrait], characterized by breaking the form and its reassignment with concurrent presentation of several views, which refered to the works created within the circle of Cubists. This mode of depiction was employed in the following works Portret (Głowa) [Portrait (head)] and Salome, characterized by inscribing the motif within a geometric figure depicted on a plane. The concept was discussed by the artist himself in a theoretic text Salome. (Obraz wielopłaszczyznowy) [Salome (multi-plane picture)] (1919), in which Czyżewski pointed to the need of replacing traditional paintings with pictures constructed with several planes. The points at which the planes were joined were to be further stressed with lines, thus creating a rhythm that replaced the humdrum of former pictures. Until then, the idea was carried out only on canvas and cardboard and was developed in later works that literally went beyond a single plane. In Kompozycja form II. (Obraz wielopłaszczyznowy) [The composition of forms (multi-plane picture)] the artist connected flat and spatial elements that on numerous occasions were fragments of objects.

Multi-plane pictures by Czyżewski, painted first on a plane and then constructed from various materials, were the boldest example of experimentation in Polish art. They demonstrated the need to exceed the traditional concept of painting, characteristic for avant-garde artists, e.g. Alexandre Archipenko and his sculpto-paintings.