Objects

Depiction of the ruins of a Warsaw house at 80 Czarnieckiego Street. One of the rejected versions of the illustration to Władysław Broniewski's poem "Żona" (Wife) from the book "Ręka umarłej" (Hand of a Deceased). A version close to the present work, which is printed in the book, appears at the top of page 96, above the poem (the poem is illustrated in the volume with two drawings; cf. also MPOLIN-M1640). In the poetic work, the house is depicted in the second verse: "80 Czarnieckiego Street, | ground floor with garden", while the smoke at the top of the drawing corresponds, it seems, with the opening line of the poem: "Obłoki obłąkane" (Clouds gone mad). However, this motif can also be read as evoking the fumes of the crematorium (the poem refers to Auschwitz, where Maria Zarębińska-Broniewska was imprisoned). The motif of ruins is also present in other pen works, which were created as illustrations for the book "Ręka umarłej" (Hand of a Deceased).  

Przemysław Kaniecki