Filmoteka Muzeum

PKF 7A/69

Tadeusz Kantor, Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson, 1969

The happening was organised for the first time in Nuremberg in 1968 and was repeated a year later, on the 24th of January 1969 at the Foksal Gallery. Here, just like in Medusa Raft and Panoramic Sea Happening, Kantor used a famous historical painting as a “ready-made object.” In this case it was Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. Among the participants that played the role of doctors were hippies, who enriched the event with the elements of their own modern look – long hair and Windsor glasses.

Clothing was carefully dissected. Pockets were emptied and objects that were found in them (like handkerchiefs, photographs, pens, toothbrushes, caps, all of which were part of the “reality of the lowest rank”) were displayed for the public to see, forming a collage. Kantor referred to the idea of a human emballage:

“These are the interesting contents and matter / of these intimate hiding places / and secret repositories, / this is the genuine, / authentic side of / individuality, / the forgotten leftovers, / the shameful litter, / these wrinkled and crumpled / pockets ! / ridiculous organs of / human / instincts / for preservation / and memory!” (An excerpt of the score published as the Foksal Gallery’s leaflet in April 1969)

Quoted from: Tadeusz Kantor, Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson, 1969, note from the Archive of Eustachy Kossakowski, www. artmuseum.pl

PKF 7A/69

Komentarz: Jerzy Kasprzycki
Lektor: Jerzy Rosołowski
Zdjęcia: Zbigniew Karpowicz
Opracowanie dźwiękowe: Ryszard Sulewski
Montaż: Wacław Kaźmierczak
Numer tematu: 11
Osoba: Tadeusz Kantor (malarz, grafik, reżyser, scenograf), Magdalena Więcek (rzeźbiarka), Edward Krasiński (malarz, rzeźbiarz), Henryk Stażewski (malarz)
Obiekt: Galeria Foksal
Czas akcji: 1969
Miejsce akcji: Warszawa
Produkcja: Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych (Warszawa)
Prawa: WFDiF
Format dźwięku: mono
Format klatki: 4:3
System koloru: czarno-biały