#blanche whitman

[la-salpetriere]

"Three colors-Curie" - dance show: premiere - 13.09.2024 Entertainment Theatre in Chorzów, Poland. Directed and choreographed by Artur Żymełka.  The episode, with duduk play by Nasar Sezavar,(piece : dle yaman) depicts Maria's friend, Blanche Wittman, a patient of the psychiatric hospital "La Salpêtrière". In the role of Blanche: Katarzyna Osuch. Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie — Polish-French scientist in the fields of Experimental Physics and Physical Chemistry, double Nobel Prize winner in physics and chemistry. She was stigmatized by the scientific community for her origin and dedication to science. The French press published her private correspondence with Paul Langevin, which became the cause of an international scandal. Artur Żymełka-Polish director and choreographer, author of more than 30 performances, winner of many Theatre Awards. 

-- Description via Nasar Sezavar

[la-salpetriere]

Do you ever wonder what Blanche Wittman thought of that name, “Blanche”? Her birth name was in fact Marie, but only got known as Blanche because that was the name of a sister of hers who died young and she’d often scream out her name in hysterics. Was she okay with being called that? Did she dislike it? Did she even care?

[la-salpetriere]

Today I spent sometime studying my favorite works of art a little more closely than usual through virtual reality. I got to view dozens of paintings somewhat close to real scale. One of these paintings I studied was André Brouillet’s famous Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière.

While I noticed many small details like the medical instruments on the table and the many faces I soon recognized, what stood out to me the most was something I’ve never noticed about the composition of this painting, just how cramped it really is.

Our subject, Blanche Wittman was barely over 5 foot tall, so with some quick visual estimation we can predict the front row of students was only 5-10 feet away from her. This might seem like a useless observation, but if this painting is true to life, we can only imagine just how terrifying this was for her, the scrutinizing glare of men that close to her.

[la-salpetriere]

Blanche Whitman (c. 1878, colorized 2024)

[la-salpetriere]

“Well! What do you want to know? They claim that all these attacks were faked, that the patients pretended to be asleep and the whole thing was a joke on the doctors. What’s the truth in all that? None of it’s true. It’s all lies; if we fell asleep, if we had attacks, it was because we were helpless to do otherwise. What’s more, it was very unpleasant.”

- Blanche Whitman (translated from original French)