In an official statement posted to the institute's website, dated 19th October, 2017, a clarification was made concerning the correct medium of the artifact, previously presented by researchers Alain Kohler (the Swiss physicist who 'discovered' the portrait) and Gilles Bencimon of Radio France Internationale as a hitherto unknown, presumed daguerreotype.
According to the most recent investigation commissioned by the Institute, the portrait has been proven not to be a daguerreotype nor a previously undiscovered likeness of Chopin, but rather a photographic reproduction of a fragment of a pre-existing painted likeness of the composer (a "detail").
The portrait in question: a ca. 1951 likeness of
Chopin
seated at a keyboard, executed by the 20th century Polish painter Ludomir
Sleńdziński (pictured below).
Although believed at the time to have been a
probable daguerreotype, the institute wanted to be certain, and thus
commissioned art historian Małgorzata Grąbczewska for assistance in ascertaining the correct technique used to produce the "newly discovered" portrait. Prior to Grąbczewska's involvement in the investigation, there was some question as to whether the artifact was indeed executed in a daguerreotype technique (as believed), or if it was a photographic reproduction of a painting or woodcut. Grąbczewska, whose area of specialty is 19th
century photography, was the first to correct the record.
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Portrait of Chopin in his apartment, seated at the keyboard by Ludomir Śleńdziński (photo: Przemysław Witek - Society of the Friends of Fine Arts in Krakow) | The Fryderyk Chopin Institute |
The photograph was traced to Ostrogski castle in Warsaw, where a reproduction of Sleńdziński 's mid-twentieth century painting was presented (in an exhibition devoted to the Polish pianist, conductor and founder of the International Chopin Piano Competition, Jerzy Żurawlew).
Grąbczewska detailed her process to Polish media:
"We cooperated, although our hypotheses were completely different. They were convinced that they had found a reproduction of the daguerreotype, and in my opinion we were dealing with a reproduction of a painting. Some [aspects of the portrait] were clearly of a painterly nature. Until recently, however, there was no proof that would confirm one of the versions... I managed to find trace evidence that led me to Ludomir Sleńdziński. He is a painter whose daughter was a pianist and student of Jerzy Żurawlew, an outstanding Chopin player. The Chopin portraits that belonged to him were exhibited at the Chopin Museum from 1984 to at least 2000.
In 1951, Sleńdziński painted a portrait of Fryderyk Chopin, which, I suspected, was modeled on various images of the composer created during his lifetime, including the famous daguerreotype created in Bisson's Paris atelier. It seemed so realistic that one could succumb to the illusion that we are dealing with photography [however] in the Sleńdziński Gallery in Białystok, I managed to find a reproduction of this painting, which provided a solution to the mystery."
Grąbczewska further posited that a photograph was taken of the finished work, likely by Sleńdziński himself, and it was this detail from the larger work which the artist gifted to Żurawlew. Both painting and photograph would eventually become relatively unknown to the general public until the recent discovery - this, despite the fact that the painted portrait itself was displayed for some time at a Polish exhibition.
Grąbczewska continued:
"..determining the place of storage of the original work was not difficult. It is [presently] owned by the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Krakow. Interestingly, according to the information provided to me by the curators of these collections, it was exhibited in Krakow for years. This means that many people saw him and it is surprising that this portrait, although having been [for a period of time] extremely successful, was not noted by the [very capable] researchers at the NIFC [Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina / Fryderyk Chopin Institute], nor was it published in any of the dozens or hundreds of publications about Chopin that appeared in both Poland and around world since his death."
-translated by Google (with author's edits)
View the official statement
here.
See previous article on this story on
Unraveling Musical Myths.
-Rose.
Great work by Małgorzata Grąbczewska, the art historian from the Polish History Museum. But i am slightly unhappy that she/he was not more thorough in her explanation. What material did the painter work from to create the painting ? She wrote "Sleńdziński painted a portrait of Fryderyk Chopin, which, as I suspected, was based on various images of the composer created during his lifetime, including the famous daguerreotype created in Bisson's Parisian atelier." I read somewhere else that that famous daguerrotype is the only known direct photographic picture that survived WW2. This leaves open a doubt as if other daguerrotypes existed and were lost. I understand that there is quite a few drawings and paintings of Chopin made in his own time expecially the most famous by Delacroix who was close to Chopin and is probably the most accurate of all but they will never exactly portray him.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous,
DeleteThank you for your comment and readership.
I agree the statement issued by Grąbczewska is vague concerning the medium used by Sleńdziński's original painting, of which she notes is presently owned by the owned by the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Krakow. (It is important to note that the image seen here was a reproduction of that painting).
According to research conducted by Grąbczewska, the two, known, and "authenticated" daguerreotypes of Chopin, both taken in Bisson's atelier (see figs. 1 and 2 here https://unravelingmusicalmyths.blogspot.com/2017/01/history-made-third-known-photograph-of.html), previously held by Leipzig music publishers Breitkopf & Härtel, traded hands in 1936, becoming the property of the Warsaw State Art Collections, where they would be, according to Grąbczewska, "presented at the great Chopin exhibition in the Polish Library in Paris" causing a great "sensation."
These two daguerreotypes were, according to the scholar, channeled into Canada via France and the Netherlands sometime in 1939 as the prospect of war loomed over Poland. Documentation from this period is, in itself, contradictory. The 'images' of Chopin, along with the treasure of the National Gallery of France, had been noted as being housed in the Great White North until 1959, having been previously safeguarded in a Parisian bank vault just prior to the hand off.
Following the war, whilst the artifacts from the National Library of France were returned from Canada to Paris, the two daguerreotypes of Chopin, were said to have been missing. The famous pair we know today are themselves, reproductions of the original daguerreotypes: the aforementioned fig. 1, reproduced by Czesław Olszewski, is housed in the photo library of the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute. The reproduction of the aforementioned fig. 2, made by Benedykta Jerzego Dorysa, is housed at the Fryderyk Chopin Museum. It is important to note that the latter reproduction is a photographic reproduction of a copy of the since lost daguerrotype.
The location of these daguerrotypes and the previously mentioned copy are unknown.
To quote Grąbczewska: "Today, it is difficult to decide whether both daguerreotypes were sent overseas at all, because the available source documents contradict themselves. The official version says that they burned down in Warsaw in September 1939, but I find it hard to believe. It seems to me that no one would risk leaving such valuable objects, and their small size, in endangered Warsaw. I hope that they are enjoyed by some private collector who will one day decide to reveal them and they will return to Poland. For now, we must be satisfied with the reproductions that were created in this short period between 1936 and the outbreak of the war."
-Rose.