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11 April
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13 August 2006 Tate Liverpool |
Human beings and the relationships between them fascinated Motesiczky and she explored this interest through a number of portraits, the largest genre within her oeuvre. Motesiczky does not flatter the sitter – these portraits neither beautify nor idealise. Rather, she depicts her subjects as players in a drama or is concerned with attaining a degree of psychological insight.
In the 1920s and 30s she tended to use anonymous models, whom she probably paid. Only occasionally do the titles of these early portraits hint at the sitter's social group or particular occupation, as in her first, full-length painting, the early portrait Workman in Paris 1926. Between 1925 and 1927 Motesizcky spent long periods of time in Paris, where she rented a studio that belonged to a Polish dancer. The model here is the caretaker who came each day to light the fire.
After she moved to England, Motesiczky tended to paint those closest to her. In After the Ball 1949, she pays a touching tribute to her brother Karl, who had perished in Auschwitz in 1943. The artist depicts Karl and his Norwegian girlfriend Aagot in Fasching costume after a fancydress ball in Vienna. Exhausted, they hold each other tenderly and protectively in a moment of brief happiness.
Although Motesiczky did not seek commissions, she was aware of the importance of portraiture for her development as an artist. She was frequently asked for portraits by friends, relatives and strangers, yet only felt able to undertake a few. Starting in the 1950s, Motesiczky carried out several portrait commissions, including Portrait of Iris Murdoch 1964, commissioned by the author as a parting gift to St Anne's College, Oxford. Far from idealised, the dreamlike figure has an almost masculine quality. Murdoch found the work uncannily accurate, noting in her diary: "I think it is wonderful, terrible, so sad and frightening, me with the demons. How did she know?"
One of her favourite subjects was Elias Canetti, who commissioned a number of paintings from Motesiczky including several portraits of himself. In 1990, he commissioned her to paint his portrait from memory, refusing to sit himself. Motesiczky took up the challenge, using a press photograph to assist her. The resultant work, Portrait of Elias Canetti 1992 did not, however, find favour with the writer.