Objects

Ciała (Bodies)

Siemaszko, Olga (1911-2000)

The contour drawing shows a street in perspective (straight ahead) among the ruins of buildings; columns are highlighted at the bottom left. In the lower part, among the thick lines of rubble, there are many lying human bodies. This is one of the illustrations to the poem "Ciała" (Bodies) by Władysław Broniewski, reprinted in the volume "Ręka umarłej" (Hand of a Deceased) (printed at the bottom of the page where the poem ends). Among the many "bodies of the dead" that the lyrical subject enumerates are:

"bodies from the camps,

and of the cities shot,

... bodies of destruction,

bodies of harm

will come in droves,

they will never rest!" (pp. 56–57).

The classicist (or neoclassical) character of the ruined buildings on the left, signalled by the columns, refers to a specific visual motif present in many depictions of war destruction. In the immediate post-war period, photos of the ruins of classicist or neoclassical architecture were often published, which in this context was to symbolise, among others, the death of civilisation as such. For example, the ruins of Warsaw were also compared with the ruins of the Acropolis.

The presented rubble corresponds in the book to the first illustration preceding the introduction (see MPOLIN-M1607). At the time the object was donated to the collection, it was placed on an additional backing and in a passe-partout with markings on the part with the window: "''RĘKA UMARŁEJ' || Str. 57” ('HAND OF A DECEASED' || P. 57). On the protective backing there were two drawings, discarded at an early stage of the work, presumably for the piece "Ballada" (Ballad) (cf. MPOLIN-M1623 i MPOLIN-M1624).

Przemysław Kaniecki
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Information about the object
Author / creator
Siemaszko, Olga (1911-2000)
Object type
drawing
Time of creation / dating
20th century
Place of creation
Warszawa (mazovian province)
Technique
drawn
Material
paper
ink
Keywords
Copyright status
contact the Museum
Owner
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Identification number
MPOLIN-M1618
Localization
The object is not currently on display
The purchase of work for the POLIN Museum's collection was subsidized by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for Promotion of Culture - a state purpose fund, program: National Collection of Contemporary Art.