Objects

Illustration for Chapter I of Janusz Korczak's novel, titled (the chapters have summary titles) "Podróż. – Nudne opowiadanie, którego nie warto słuchać. – Ot, jutro będzie wesoło'' (The Journey. – A dull story not worth listening to. – Tomorrow will be fun).

Depiction of seven boys, seen in the half-open window of a railway carriage, raising their hands in a gesture of farewell. The composition is made using a collage technique: pasted elements combined with drawing and paint. The artist's highlights are listed, where the artist has underdrawn and underpainted these elements. The parts of the boys behind the window are mostly in a blue colour – ecoline. Above the railway carriage on the left, there is a blue cloud (paint: spotting) and four blue birds (ecoline). On the railway carriage to the right of the window, there is a digit (hand-drawn): 2. Below the window and above the wheels, there is another (adhesive) digit – pink 2. Above the wheel on the right, there is a fragment of a bordered inscription (handwritten): "Wilhelmó[w] [...]" (this is the location of the colony they are going to [they will get off at the Goworów stop].

Underneath the wheels of the railway car (wheels are adhesive elements, with drawn elements on top of them), blue railroad ties and dark rails (ecoline and drawing), along the bottom edge there are three rows of slabs (drawing and ecoline).

The illustration in the book was printed in yellow and black and cropped – only a part of the sky (clouds; the cloud is different from the original collage) is visible, there are no birds, the platform is invisible, and part of the inscription is missing.

Illustration – copyright by Marianna Sztyma.

PK