Pure Form
Pure Form is one of the most important art theories in Polish aesthetics, created during the Interwar period by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) – a Polish painter, photographer, playwright and philosopher.[1] The theory breaks with the tradition of realism[2] and aims at freeing the artist from the restrictions of mimetic representation. Witkiewicz’s observations are fairly consistent with ideas of formalism.[3] However, in his theory Witkacy introduced personal and philosophical considerations about the making and reception of works of art, while formalists focused on the work itself.
According to Witkacy, the essence of art is Form. Artistic effects spring from the contemplation of that form. This led to what Witkacy termed as „artistic perversity” – anything that distorts or deforms existing laws in order to follow inherent, internal laws to the detriment of the traditionally expected balance, conventionally pleasing ideas of beauty. This artistic perversity should confront the reciepient with the unknown, and inspire him or her to discover the internal logic and beauty of the work of art on his or her own.
The Pure Form theory has its roots in Witkacy’s ontological system and his catastrophic views on history and culture.[4] According to him, philosophy and religion are no longer able to respond to man’s metaphysical needs and only art possesses this capacity. Witkacy defined art as: “Art is the expression of what I call faute de mieux metaphysical feeling, or in other words (please, pay close attention) the expression of the directly given unity of our individuality in formal constructions of any elements (complex or simple), in such a way that these constructions affect us directly, and not through cognitive understanding”.[5] Through the medium of his art, the artist tries to provide a substitue for the spiritual void of modern experience, both for himself and for the others. The work of art is bi-form; both an aesthetic object and the expression of the unity of personality. It can mediate between the „I” and the „non-I” because it participates in both worlds.
A work of art results directly from the given unity of an artist’s individuality. In the act of creation, the artist creates a formal structure which acts directly on the viewer or listener, intensifying in him the awareness of his – the viewer’s – own individuality through sensation and imagination. The purpose of art then is to experience a metaphysical shudder, resulting from its form.[6]
Pure Form in the Theatre
Witkacy wished to free drama from traditional conventional psychology and storytelling and give it the formal possibilities of modern art and music. The performers and their words, gestures, and actions should serve as sounds, colours and shapes in a total composition with no ambition to reflect the real world. Through the purely formal arrangements of the component elements, the artists can arouse in the spectator, viewer or listener the metaphysical feelings of strangeness of existence as it is going to be lost and forgotten in the coming “anthill” society.[7]
Witkacy’s formal experiments in dramatic form were a subject of interest for many European and American scholars, mainly during the 1960s and the 1970s. He was introduced to Western culture by a prominent theatre critic, Martin Esslin[8], as a forerunner of the Theatre of the Absurd.[9] However, studies of Witkiewicz’s dramatic technique, inspired mainly by an important translator of his works into English, Daniel Charles Gerould[10], proved that this categorization calls for further scientific investigation[11]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Polish writer and painter. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stanislaw-Ignacy-Witkiewicz .
- ↑ Realism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism (arts)
- ↑ Formalism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formalism_(literature)
- ↑ Polish Philosophy Page. Stanisław I. Witkiewicz https://web.archive.org/web/20080209021703/http://www.fmag.unict.it/~p - olphil/PolPhil/Witk/Witk.html
- ↑ S. I. Witkiewicz, Pure Form in the Theatre, tłum. D. C. Gerould, in: Gerould, D. C., The Witkiewicz Reader, trans, ed. and introduction D. C. Gerould, Northwestern University Press, Evanston – Illinois 1992, pp.147-152.
- ↑ Puzyna K., The Concept of Pure Form, [in:] Literary Studies in Poland, Ossolineum1986, pp. 101-112.
- ↑ Gerould, D. C. Translator’s Introduction, [in:] S. I. Witkiewicz, Seven Plays, ed. and transl. Daniel Gerould, Martin E. Segal Theatre Centre Publications, New York 2004.
- ↑ Martin Esslin (odsyłacz do hasła wiki)
- ↑ Esslin M., The Theatre of the Absurd, Penguin Books, Eyre, Spottiswoode, Harmondsworth-Ringwood 1972.
- ↑ Daniel Gerould, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel C. Gerould
- ↑ Kott, J., Witkiewicz and Artaud: Where the Analogy Ends, trans. J. Clark, „Theatre Quarterly” 1975, no 5, p. 69-73. Gerould D. C., Discovery of Witkiewicz, „Arts in Society”, Regents of the University of Wisconsin 1971, vol. 8, s. 652-656.
References[edit]
Witkacy’s art philosophy (in Polish)
- Witkiewicz S.I., Wstęp do teorii Czystej Formy w teatrze, w: „Teatr” i inne pisma o teatrze, oprac. J. Degler, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 1995.
- Witkiewicz S.I., Nowe formy w malarstwie i wynikające stąd nieporozumienia. Szkice estetyczne, oprac. J. Degler i L. Sokół, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 2002.
- Witkiewicz S.I., Nowe formy w malarstwie i wynikające stąd nieporozumienia. Szkice estetyczne, oprac. J. Degler i L. Sokół, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 2002.
(Works on the Pure Form translated into English)
- Witkiewicz S. I., On Pure Form, trans. C. S. Leach [in:] Aesthetics in Twentieth Century Poland, ed. J. G. Harrel and A. Wierzbiańska, Bucknell University Press, Lewisburg 1973, pp. 41-65.
- Witkiewicz S.I., On a New Type of Play, trans. by. D. C. Gerould and C. S. Durer, „Drama Survey” 1967, no VI: 2, pp. 175-180. Also [in:] Bernard F. Dukore, Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Greeks to Grotowski, Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., New York 1974, pp. 973-978.
- Witkiewicz S. I. The Anonymous Work; A Few Words about the Role of the Actor in the Theatre of Pure Form transl. Daniel Gerould [in:] Twentieth-Century Polish Avant-Garde Drama. Plays. Scenarios. Critical Documents, ed. and introduction by Daniel Gerould, transl. by Daniel Gerould in collaboration with Eleanor Gerould, Cornell University Press, Ithaca-London 1977, pp. 97-159.
- Witkiewicz S.I., New Forms in Painting and the Misunderstandings Arising Therefrom, [in:] Gerould D. C., The Witkiewicz Reader, ed. trans. and intro. by D. C. Gerould, Northwestern University Press, Evanston – Illinois 1992, pp. 107-116.
- Witkiewicz, S. I. Second Response to the Reviewers of the Pragmatists, trans. D. C. Gerould, [in:] Gerould D. C., The Witkiewicz Reader, op. cit., pp. 153-154.
- Witkiewicz S. I., Pure Form in the Theatre, trans. D. C. Gerould, [in:] Gerould D. C., The Witkiewicz Reader, op. cit., pp. 147-152.
Further reading[edit]
- Asermely A., Directing Pure Form: The Pragmatists, „The Polish Review” 1973, vol. XVIII, no. 1-2, p. 136-138.
- Barlow D. J., Witkiewicz’s Theory of Pure Form and the Music of Morton Feldman [in:] Witkacy: 21st Century Perspectives, ed. K. A. Hayes, M. Rudnicki, „The Polish Journal of Aesthetics/Estetyka i Krytyka”, 2013, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 109-120.
- Gerould D.C., Twentieth-century Polish Avant-garde Drama, Cornell University Press, Ithaca – London 1977.
- Gerould D.C., Witkacy. Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz as an Imaginative Writer, University of Washington Press, Seattle – London 1981.
- Gerould, D. C., The Witkiewicz Reader, trans, ed. and introduction D. C. Gerould, Northwestern University Press, Evanston – Illinois 1992.
- Gerould D. C., Witkacy and Conspiracy Theories, [in:] Witkacy in English: 21st Century Perspectives, op. cit., pp. 59-71.
- Goddard, M., Cinema, Insatiability and Impure Form: Witkacy in Film, [in:] Witkacy in English: 21st Century Perspectives, op. cit., pp. 99-107.
- Kiebuzinska, Ch., Witkacy: the Metaphysical Theater of Pure Form, Slavic and East European Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 1990.
- Kiebuzinska, Ch., Witkacy's Theory of Pure Form: Change, Dissolution and Uncertainty, [in:] Kiebuzinska, Ch., Intertextual Loops in Modern Drama, Associated University Press, 2001, pp. 47-86.
- Leszczyński, J., Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz's Theory of Art, Dialectic and Humanism, no. 2, 1985, pp. 61-65.
- Micińska, A., At the Roots of Pure Form, Dialectic and Humanism, no. 2, 1985, pp. 153-160.
- Ramsay G., Futurism and Witkiewicz: Variety, Separation and Coherence in a Theatre of Pure Form, [in:] Witkacy in English: 21st Century Perspectives, op. cit., pp. 121-135.
External links[edit]
- Kowalczyk J., Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) https://culture.pl/en/artist/stanislaw-ignacy-witkiewicz-witkacy
- Bulowska- Shielman M., Stanisław Ignacy WITKIEWICZ (WITKACY), Virtual Library of Polish Literature http://literat.ug.edu.pl/autors/witkacy.htm
The Daniel Gerould Archives
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