Portrait painted from letters
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A few years ago, the Museum collections grew richer with a very valuable picture presenting a portrait of an unusual woman, who during World War II, aided Polish soldiers in surviving the hard time of their stay in the German captivity. One of them was Wiesław Anusiewicz, a Prisoner-of-War in Oflag VII A Murnau, who – assisted by his friend – decided to express his gratitude and present the woman with a portrait (the one displayed on the exhibition). It features Zofia Stryczyńska – the woman who maintained contacts with POWs, exchanging letters, sending parcels which contained articles indispensable for the POWs to survive, such as bread, sugar, butter, sausage – goods that were almost impossible to procure in the country occupied by Germans. Mrs. Stryczyńska’s endeavors and those of many thousands of others, anonymous and similar to her, women, has been forgotten by history. POWs turned to them as "Dear Mother" or "Dear Sister", thanking them for the received letters or parcels. It needs adding that beside the portrait which is presented on the jubilee exhibition, we also have in our collections the correspondence which Mrs. Zofia Stryczyńka ran with POWs. On the basis of the letters and relations of her daughter, Mrs. Urszula Jernajczyk, we can get to know the story of the picture. Mrs. Zofia Stryczyńska started her correspondence with Wiesław Anusiewicz, aiding him in surviving the hardships of his POW’s lot, while he – wishing to thank the unknown "Dear Mother" – asked her in the letters addressed to her to send him a photograph of her and some details of her appearance, color eyes and hair. On the basis of the received photo and the details of the woman’s looks, it was possible for Anusiewicz’s campmate to paint the picture. Still, while the photograph presented the woman’s right profile, it is the left one that was shown in the picture. The authors of the painting failed to choose the right color of the dress in their picture, too, as Mrs. Stryczyńska was presented in a purple dress, the color which she did not like at all. She was sent another portrait, this time painted in oils on canvas, probably done by the same artist. However, in her opinion, it was not successful and was never hung in her home. It was not until after her death that the family decided to put it up in one of the rooms, where it is still displayed today. The first portrait of Mrs. Zofia Stryczyńska, before it found its way into our Museum’s collection, had been stored, together with the letters from POWs, as a precious memento of that difficult yet also unusual time. The "Dear Mother" never, after the War, met Wiesław Anusiewicz or the painter of the two portraits. As her daughter recollects, her Mother used to say: "And none of those naughty boys has ever turned up."
Background history Prepared by: Anna Wickiewicz |
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Portrait painted from letters
Source of acquisition
Description of the item |
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