Portrait of a man with a walking stick

The Portrait of a Man with a Walking Stick is the only surviving pastel by Symcha Trachter. The depicted figure is not known by name. In a catalogue devoted to Trachter's work, Jakub Bendkowski sees a similarity to a drawing from the collection of the Jewish Historical Institute depicting a man supporting himself with a walking stick, but from a different angle. The researcher puts forward the hypothesis that it is the same pauper drawn in Vienna in 1918.

Undoubtedly, the technique of the artist, who trained under Teodor Axentowicz, an excellent pastelist, among others, deserves attention. The figure is characterized by verismo, the face and hands protruding from the wide sleeves of the coat reflect the carnality of the model.

From his correspondence with Wiktor Ziółkowski, Trachter's artistic attitude emerges, his radical views on contemporary art show sources of inspiration and anti-inspiration. He sharply criticized the works of masters of modern art (from the perspective of today's viewer): Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin, while among the French artists he admired Paul Cézanne, considering him the greatest painter of his time, as well as Auguste Rodin, Jean François Millet, and some works by Henri Matisse. In opposition to the accusations made, Trachter defined the qualities that make an artist worthy of attention: “A true artist is one who mixes colour on a palette. Every great artist has his own colour, you get to know the soul of an artist by colour”.

As a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, he wanted to study under Jacek Malczewski. During his stay in Paris in the 1920s and a visit to the Louvre, he admired Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Paris appeared to him as a place more conducive to artistic development than Lublin of that time. Cecylia Słapkowska, in an interview with Emmanuel Mané-Katz for the “5-ta Rano” newspaper, spoke about freedom, humanitarianism, and the financial support for artists. Influenced by Józef Pankiewicz, many artists from Krakow's artistic community went to Paris to admire the achievements of their predecessors in museums.

Klara Sadkowska