New Means of Expression
In his modernist phase Mehoffer was among those artists fascinated with the possibilities of black and white, exploring for new means of expression in the range of monochromatic tones, drawing with carbon and crayon, experimenting with several engraving techniques. He worked on themes borrowed from the iconography of European Symbolism, imbued urban nocturnes with concentrated expression, and developed the motifs of femme fatale and of the inseparable connection between love and death. His drawing Nokturn. Rynek krakowski od strony ulicy św. Jana (A Nocturne. The Kraków Market Square seen from St John's Street) shows the silhouette of the Sukiennice disappear in the vibrant atmosphere of the night, conveyed through a dynamic use of carbon, and the strong contrasts of light and shadow introduce a dramatic touch. His aqua-fortis etching Zuchwały Ogrodnik (The Insolent Gardener, 1912) announces the approach of death through an overturned watering can and the long shadows cast by the performing actors, the young woman and the skeleton that personifies death. This allegoric morality play, in which the daily ritual gets unexpectedly broken, takes place against the backdrop of the sky, darkened before the storm, and of the vast landscape representing the Universe and borrowed from late-Gothic paintings of elaborate detail.
Some of Mehoffer's other drawings - Głowa Jasnowłosa (Fair-Haired Head, 1905; Głowa kobiety II (Head of a Woman II, 1906) emphasize the sensual features of women and, closely related to Toulouse-Lautrec's sketches done in Parisian brothels, bring to light the seductive power of the woman. In contrast, the curls of Mehoffer's wife make a decorative halo in Portret żony przy świetle lampy (Portrait of Wife in the Lamplight, 1905). The dynamic lines creating this ornamental halo and the shadows moving across the model's face are remindful of James McNeill Whistler's bold hachuring used in his portraits.
Whistler's convention-breaking multiplied-edge drawing used in the images of Leyland's daughters comes to mind also when one looks at the way in which Mehoffer rendered the dynamic movements of Guerrero dancers in his 1905-07 series of nine Tancerka (The Dancer) etchings. The illusion of dance swirls is achieved here through spontaneous hatching detached from the descriptive function. The artist experimented with diverse techniques – the aqua-fortis etching, the dry-point and the soft varnish – looking for means of expression to best convey the rapid changing of poses. Similarly akin to Whistler's dry-point engravings is Urwany koń (A Horse that Broke Loose, 1904), Mehoffer's lithographic image of Helcia Tatarowna sketched freely on a neutral background. His lithography Zemsta (The Revenge) shows an angel who has taken the shape of an angry woman, a misericord in her hand.
From 1900 Mehoffer contributed to the Warsaw-based magazine Chimera, designing covers, mastheads and initials. He designed covers for the Poznań Expressionist magazine Zdrój (1917) and the monthly Wczoraj i dziś (1924), book covers, notably for Tadeusz Kruszynski's Dzieje sztuki chrzescijańskiej (A History of Christian Art, Kraków 1913), as well as posters, post stamps, banknotes and auction tickets. He also illustrated books, including K. H. Rostworowski's Judasz z Kariothu (Judas Iscariot, Kraków 1913).
Mehoffer exhibited his works at numerous international exhibitions, including those in Vienna (1893, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1908, 1915, 1928), Berlin (1895, 1896, 1899), Paris (1900, 1921, 1925), St. Louis (1904), Düsseldorf and Munich (1905, 1909), Dresden (1909, 1912, 1913), Venice (1910, 1914, 1920, 1926), Rome (1911, 1934), London (1921), Brussels (1925), Helsinki and Florence (1927), Los Angeles (1928), Padua (1931), Philadelphia (1934) and Madrid (1935). From 1894 he regularly took part in the exhibitions of Kraków's Society of Friends of Fine Arts and 1895 marked the first of a number of his exhibitions at the Warsaw "Zachęta" Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts. In Kraków he also participated in the exhibitions of the Polish Applied Art Society (1903), the General Union of Polish Artists (1917) and the Independent (1927). In Warsaw his works were shown at Krywult's Salon (1898), Abe Gutnajer's Salon (1927), Garlinski's Salon (1925) and the Art Propaganda Institute (1930, 1932). Other Polish towns where his art was exhibited included Lvov (from 1897), Poznań (from 1909), Częstochowa (1913), Lublin and Zakopane (1916), Torun (1921, 1922), Łódź (1924), Bydgoszcz (1931) and Płock (1933). His solo exhibitions were held at the Warsaw Zachęta Society in 1913, 1935 and 1937, and at the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts in 1938 and 1945. Mehoffer received gold medals at the international exhibition in Paris (1900), the universal exhibitions in St. Louis and Chicago (1904), and in Munich (1905). His life can be traced in his Diaries of 1891-97 and his reflections on art can be gleaned from his book Uwagi o sztuce i jej stosunku do natury (Notes on Art and its Relation to Nature), published in 1897, and from a few articles, in particular Sztuka w Polsce wczoraj i dziś (Art in Poland: Yesterday and Today) in Sztuki Piekne, VIII, 1932).
Author: Irena Kossowska, Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Science, 2002