Knight's head

The bust of the knight in armour is the second identical print that was included in the portfolio of auto-lithographs composed of works by Władysław Barwicki. This indicates that the portfolio is currently incomplete, as some works appear in duplicate and others are probably missing. Another double work is the cover of the portfolio.

The selection of works for the portfolio was made by the artist himself. Currently, it contains nine prints, including two identical prints depicting the head of a knight. Unfortunately, the works do not have numbers and therefore it is difficult to establish how many originally comprised the portfolio and what the author's intention was. It may have contained works of similar subject matter, relating to legends and fairy tales, which the artist enjoyed illustrating. But it could just as well have consisted of the author's best works on a variety of subjects. It could have been an advertisement for Barwicki's work and a demonstration of his mastery of the technique of autolithography.

It is one of the graphic techniques created entirely by one artist. The drawing was made on a lithographic stone and then hand-printed in the press. Sometimes the artist made only a drawing and the lithographer transferred it onto the lithographic stone and processed it. In the case of autolithography, including the portfolio of Władysław Barwicki, the artist had control over the process of creating the work at all times.

The portfolio was printed in the workshop of Adam Jarzyński, which before the war was located at 3 Bernardyńska Street in Lublin. Barwicki decided to cooperate with this printing house because it was an artistic one. It cared about the level of its products and ensured reasonable prices. It specialised in small graphic forms such as business cards, restaurant menus, wedding invitations, letterheads, postcards and diplomas. These were works which required from a printer not only the correct execution of craftsmanship, but also aesthetic sense, precision, composition skills.