MICIŃSKA Anna

Born on 22 December 1939 in Paris; daughter of the essayist, literary critic, theatre critic and philosopher Bolesław Miciński, and the art critic and art historian Halina, née Krauze (from her second marriage: Kenar). In January 1940 she left Paris together with her parents, who had arrived in France in autumn 1939 having been evacuated from Poland with the outbreak of the Second World War alongside other employees of Polish Radio, where her father worked. Owing to her father's ill health, they moved to Montaigut (Allier) before spending a short period in Lourdes following the surrender of France. They subsequently lived in Colombier, Grenoble and Bouquéron. After her father's death in 1943, she and her mother lived for a short period in Uriage, then in Le Sappey, before moving to Saint Cloud in spring 1946. She attended French schools from 1943 (one of the books she read there was a novel for girls by Sophie Rostopchine, Countess of Ségur, Les malheurs de Sophie, which many years later Micińska translated into Polish as Strapienia Zosi [Sophie's Misfortunes]). She arrived in Poland 1946, where she was cared for by her grandmother, Zofia Krauze. Following her mother's return to Poland in 1947, accompanied by her second husband, the sculptor Antoni Kenar, she moved in with them in Zakopane. From 1951 she attended the local O. Balzer Secondary School. She participated in the gatherings that took place in her family home involving people from both her late father's circle of friends and that of her step father, with guests including painters and art experts. After completing advanced secondary education in 1955, she studied Polish philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. She initially lived the family of Jerzy Turowicz, editor of the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny", and later with Jerzy Skórnicki, director of the publishing house Wydawnictwo Literackie. She and her course mate Marta Wyka were awarded first prize at the Ninth National Congress of Young Polish Philologists in Wroclaw in 1959 for their talk Mit, mitotwórstwo i Słowacki (Myth, Myth-making and Słowacki), which was later published in abridged form in 1960 in "Życie Literackie" (no. 37). She was awarded a master's degree in 1960 for her thesis Próba monografii pierwszej powieści S.I. Witkiewicza „622 upadki Bunga” (Towards a Monograph of S.I. Witkiewicz's first novel "622 Falls of Bung"). She then left for Grenoble where she was an extramural student, attending lectures on philosophy, aesthetics and French literature at the local university. She returned to Poland in 1962 and the following year was appointed to a post at the Tatra Museum in Zakopane where her roles included processing the extensive archive of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy), which was donated to the institution. At the same time she conducted research on the life and works of Witkiewicz, as well as editing his papers (which included previously unknown works). She made her debut in this field in 1965, publishing five of Witkacy's letters to his parents ("Twórczość", no. 7) and comedies that he wrote in his youth ("Dialog", no. 8). Over time, an unofficial Witkiewicz studies centre developed at the Tatra Museum, attracting both Polish and international scholars. She also edited the texts of Witkacy's father Stanisław Witkiewicz, Bolesław Miciński and, later, Aleksander Wat. She was actively involved in the social and cultural life of Zakopane. In collaboration with, among others, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Władysław Hasior and Antoni Rząsa, she relaunched the February and March Salons for painters (Salony Lutowe i Marcowe), established the Pegaz Gallery and founded the annual Review of Films about Art (Przeglądy Filmów o Sztuce). She worked with the local radio station, presenting talks on art, and wrote introductions for catalogues accompanying exhibitions by Zakopane-based artists. Her articles on contemporary art and the Zakopane art scene appeared in periodicals including the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" (1965-70) and "Polska Sztuka Ludowa" (1966). Her later extensive study Zakopiańskie środowisko plastyczne w latach 1945-1975 (The Zakopane art scene 1945-1975) won first prize in a national competition organized jointly by the Polish Journalists Association (SDP) Section on Art Criticism and Information and the Art Patrons' Club in Krakow. From 1968, together with the documentary film maker Grzegorz Dubowski, she produced short- and mid-length films on art, mainly for Polish Television (TVP). In 1969, she was elected to Zakopane's Municipal National Council, serving one term as secretary of its Cultural Commission. That year she married Grzegorz Dubowski (they later divorced) and in 1970 moved to Warsaw, where he continued her work as a researcher and editor. In 1980/81 she made efforts through the Polish Society of Authors and Composers (ZAiKS) and the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP) to secure improved conditions for scholarly editors. Between 1982 and 1987, she was involved in preparing documents and references for the prizes of the New York-based Kościuszko Foundation. From 1983 to 1989 she wrote a review of the French press for the monthly "Twórczość" (using the by-lines: am; amz). In 1987, she married the professor of biochemistry Włodzimierz Ostoja-Zagórski. She was one of the initiators of the publication of the collected works (Dzieła zebrane) of S.I. Witkiewicz, which appeared from 1992. She was a member of the endeavour's editorial board and prepared critical editions of several volumes. Between 1991 and 1994, she worked with Polish Radio 2, where she spoke about literature. In 1994/95 she was involved in what was known as the Witkacy Commission, established by the Ministry of Culture and Art to bring the writer's supposed remains to Poland. As part of her work she travelled to Velyki Ozera, Ukraine (Jeziory in Polish). In 1995 she gave a series of lectures, including some on S.I. Witkiewicz, at Université Libre in Brussels. As a result of suffering severe ill health, she was unable to complete her work on Witkiewicz's letters to his wife (drawing on her materials, Janusz Degler completed the editorial work). She had two children, both born in 1972, with Grzegorz Dubowski: Zofia (now Dubowska-Grynberg) and Bolesław. She died on 21 March 2001 in Warsaw, where she is buried at the Powązki Cemetery.