Alina Szapocznikow

Not for sale in Poland!


The volume entitled, "Alina Szapocznikow" is a collection of materials from the international conference "Alina Szapocznikow. Works. Documents. Interpretations". (May 15-16, 2009), which accompanied the exhibition organised at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw by the Museum team and Agata Jakubowska, PhD ("Awkward Objects", May-August 2009). By gathering world-renowned art historians, curators, critics and collectors, both the conference and the publication seek to fully represent and animate the new trends in research concerning works by Alina Szapocznikow. During a career interrupted by her death in 1973, Alina Szapocznikow (born in 1926 in Kalisz) created an impressive oeuvre comprising of an impressive number of sculptures (and drawings) that still strike us as innovative and powerful. Although after the war Szapocznikow studied in Prague and Paris and spent many years based in France (she moved there in 1963), until recently she had hardly been acknowledged outside Poland. It was finally last year that her reintroduction to the contemporary art world took place, mainly thanks exhibitions in Kassel at the Documenta and at the Cologne-based Gisela Capitain gallery, followed by acquisitions of her works by significant institutions. Termed "post-surrealist" or "proto-feminist", compared to Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois, Szapocznikow and her work today constitute one of the most interesting challenges for those dealing with 20th century art. The conference, just like the exhibition and the book "Alina Szapocznikow. Awkward Objects", were conceived as a forum for renowned art historians, critics and artists willing to contribute to an interpretation of the Alina Szapocznikow's oeuvre. They aim to combine multi-faceted insights into the artist's diverse work that will increase our understanding of its meaning and its place in the context of the world of art. An important part of the publication is the richly illustrated section devoted to the oeuvre of Alina Szapocznikow, which presents both the artist's the works and hitherto unknown archival materials.

Authors: Griselda Pollock, Sarah Wilson, Agata Jakubowska, Ernst van Alphen, Tomaڑ Pospiszyl, Martina Pachmanova, Francoise Collin, Anke Kempkes, Anna Markowska, Piotr Juszkiewicz, Pawe³ Leszkowicz, Jola Gola, Ewa Toniak, Anda Rottenberg

Published in English.