One of the interesting things about the Chasing Portraits project is that I collect fragments of information along the way and, if I’m lucky, the puzzle pieces start to fall into place. This story I’m about to share is one of those stories.
On Saturday I went to visit Maciej, a private collector of Rynecki pieces, about the works in his collection. During my interview with Maciej I asked about auction listing of Rynecki pieces I knew about. He said that, yes, he had listed pieces on Desa Unicum and Rempex (Polish auction houses) but that the works had never sold. “I’ve never sold anything at auction,” he told me. So I was surprised to learn later when speaking with Katherina, his ex-wife who was visiting, that she had sold two pieces at Sotheby’s auction in the 1990s. “But you told me you never sold anything at auction,” I said to Maciej. “I didn’t sell anything,” Maciej said, “Katherina sold two pieces.”
Many years ago I learned about the sale of two Rynecki pieces through Sotheby’s in New York. For many years I didn’t know what the pieces looked like, nor who sold them. Now I know Katherina sold them. Only recently, perhaps 5 months ago, I finally had gotten a hold of two black and white images of the pieces that had sold at auction. To confirm that we were, in fact, talking about the same two pieces, I turned on my computer and showed Maciej and Katherina two black and white photos that appeared in two different Sotheby’s auction catalogs. One from the sale in New York and the other from an attempted sale in Israel (it did not sell). Maciej and Katerina looked at the pieces and confirmed that, “yes,” these were the pieces that were once in their collection and that had sold in New York. They didn’t know anything about the attempted sale in Israel. Presumably the individual who bought the painting at the New York auction turned around and tried to sell one of the pieces in a Sotheby’s Tel Aviv auction.
On Sunday night I went to the showing of Slawomir’s Karski & The Lords of Humanity documentary showing at the Jewish Motiffs Film Festival in Warsaw. Slawomir had invited Maciej and Katerina to the showing, and not only did they come, but they brought flowers for Slawomir and greeted all of us so warmly. Unbeknownst to me, Katherina took Catherine aside after the showing of the film and gave her a bag with gifts for all of us and with strict instructions that when I opened my gift, Slawomir must film it.
This morning I visited the Jewish Historical Institute and while waiting for our appointment, decided to film the opening my gift. The gift came in a stiff cardboard tube, perhaps it is 18″ long. On the outside in black marker it said, “For Elizabeth Rynecki.” I shook the tube and heard something move about. “Do you think it’s a painting?” I asked Cathy and Slawomir? They shrugged. I opened the package and peered into the tube. I could see rolled up paper and a sheet of plastic. I pulled out the small taped bundle and discovered a letter in sheet of plastic. “We went through our closets, drawer, and shelfs [sic], and we found the copies of two sold paintings,” the note said. “The images are slightly cut, but we hope you will be glad to have chance seeing them in color.”
Now if I can just figure out who has the paintings, I’d like to see them in person. I have a lead that suggests they are in Los Angeles, but the search continues…