On publishing books with Witkacy’s paintings and drawings

Abstract

The authors of the article, having looked through about a dozen books which apart from texts contained artworks by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, decided to share whit the readers their remarks concerning editorship, typography and history of art about publishing the artist’s paintings and drawings. Generally, they commented in a chronological order the most important editions from the late 70s and 80s: Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza wiersze i rysunki (Poems and drawings by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz) by Anna Micińska and Urszula Kenar; Witkacy-malarz (Witkacy-the painter) by Irena Jakimowicz; a catalogue of the artwork collection from Słupsk Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Witkacy 1885–1939 by Anna Krzyżanowska-Hajdukiewicz and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz by Piotr Piotrowski, as well as the ones from the 90s. Katalog dzieł malarskich (A Catalogue of Painted Works) by Irena Jakimowicz in cooperation with Anna Żakiewicz, the album Witkacy. Stanisław Ignacy

Witkiewicz. Życie i twórczość (Witkacy. Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Life and Works) by Anna Micińska, and two editions of the catalogue Witkacy. Kolekcja dzieł Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza w Muzeum Pomorza Środkowego w Słupsku (Witkacy. A Collection of Works by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz in Muzeum Pomorza Środkowego in Słupsk). Beata Zgodzińska shared many remarks and digressions of the curator of Słupsk collection, responsible for catalogues of collections, exhibitions and numerous publications devoted to Witkacy. The authors believe that it is always worth to pay attention to the visual aspects of a publication and to raise awareness among editors, technical editors, text compositors and graphic designers about for whom and why they are making a book. The manner of submitting a work of art for printing (bleed, framing, photographing without a frame, colors of the reproduction) not only constitutes the aesthetic side of a publication, but is of fundamental importance for some recipients – art historians or students, for whom the reproductions included in available editions are often a basis for research and elaborations.