A portrait of Joanna Kramsztykówna

Roman Kramsztyk portrayed his cousin Joasia, daughter of Andrzej and Irena Kramsztyk, née Silbermintz, at least twice. Once as a child of several years (cf. MPOLIN-M165), the second time in the mid-1930s. According to Joanna's account, the artist did not like the family solicitation for portraits and we had to wait a long time for them, as the family avoided paying (Renata Piątkowska, Między ‘Ziemiańską’ a Montparnassem. Roman Kramsztyk [Between Ziemianska Café and Montparnass. Roman Kramsztyk], Warszawa 2004, p. 239). Despite his reluctance, the painter's oeuvre still includes many portraits of the family members, and the delicate portrait of Joasia, full of girlish charm, has the most important features of the great painter's work: a sense of colour, expression, a sense of observation and a sense of humour.

The painter could not have imagined that in a few years Joanna Prochaska, née Kramsztyk (1926–2011), would play an important role in the survival of the family hiding near Warsaw. Facing the threat during the German occupation, she became the only liaison of her hiding parents and grandmother Felicja Kramsztykowa, née Mutermilch, with the world. Throughout the war, she always carried with her, like a shield, a prayer book and a picture with the image of St. Teresa (which were also donated to the POLIN Museum collection, cf. MPOLIN-A9.3.1).

A gift of Krzysztof and Janusz Prochaska.

Renata Piątkowska