MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ

BACKGROUND

--Birth- June 20, 1930 in Falenty, Poland

--Experienced war in her early years--Inspiration for future works

BACKGROUND (CONT.)

--Education- Graduated from Liceum Sztuk Plastycznych w Gdyni in Gdynia during 1949. Attended Gdansk Academy of Fine Arts (leading art school in Poland) from 1950-1954.--1965-1990 was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan.

INFLUENCES

--Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts--Anna Sledziewska, Eleonora Plutymska, Maria Urbanowicz

SOCIALIST REALISM

--Adopted by Polish government in 1949 (age 19)--The Four Rules of Socialist Realism: 1) Proletarian: Art must be relevant to and understood by the workers 2) Typical: Art must depict scenes of everyday life 3) Realistic: Art must be representational 4) Partisan: Art must support the State and its aims--Direct contrast with her later works --“I liked to draw, seeking the form by placing lines, one next to the other. The professor would come with an eraser in his hand and rub out every unnecessary line on my drawing, leaving a thin, dry contour. I hated him for it.”

THE WORKS OF MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ

--Interest in crowds and individuality in crowds

--Often makes crowds from one “prototype” such as people

--Each piece in the crowd is unique in modifications of shape and texture

--The texture is very natural either being bark, fur or wrinkled skin

--"I feel overwhelmed by quantity where counting no longer makes sense. By unrepeatability within such quantity. A crowd of people or birds, insect or leaves, is a mysterious assemblage of variants of a certain prototype, a riddle of nature abhorrent to exact repetition or inability to produce it, just as a human hand can not repeat its own gesture".

"I feel overwhelmed by quantity where counting no longer makes sense. By unrepeatability within such quantity. A crowd of people or birds, insect or leaves, is a mysterious assemblage of variants of a certain prototype, a riddle of nature abhorrent to exact repetition or inability to produce it, just as a human hand can not repeat its own gesture".

--Interest in crowds and individuality in crowds

--Often makes crowds from one “prototype” such as people to express their individuality subtly.

--Each piece in the crowd is unique in modifications of shape and texture

--The texture is very natural either being bark, fur or wrinkled skin

ABAKANS: Large 3D fiber works hung from the ceiling

HUMANOID SCULPTURES: often a shell of a human feature.

WAR GAMES: tree trunks covered in metal or fabric

ROPES: Sculpture of knots

BIBLIOGRAPHY

--Abakanowicz, Magdalena. Big Figures. Digital image. Magdalena Abakanowicz. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/crowds/bigfigures+MA.php>.

--Abakanowicz, Magdalena. "Magdalena Abakanowicz." Magdalena Abakanowicz. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.

<http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/about/- about.php>.

--From A Group Seated Figures. Digital image. Magdalena Abakanowicz. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/seated/img/postac-siedcaca-418.jpg>.

--Abakanowicz, Magdalena. Back. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.

<http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/backs/img/Back--1.jpg>.

--Abakanowicz, Magdalena. Red Abakan. Digital image. Magdalena Abakanowicz. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/abakans/img/RedAbakan+Ma.jpg

--Abakanowicz, Magdalena. Giver. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/wargames/img/War-Games-Giver.jpg>.

--Abakanowicz, Magdalena. Ropes. Digital image. Magdalena Abakanowicz. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.abakanowicz.art.pl/abakans/img/liny-cz-b-1.jpg>.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (CONT.)

--http://abcnews.go.com/images/International/gty_ruined_buildings_ss_jp_120823_ssh.jpg

--http://www.culture.pl/image/image_gallery?uuid=a44b3ae3-ba3b-4f25-b8e5-06607c66a6bc&groupId=10162&t=1340189050743

--http://www.holocaust-history.org/himmler-poznan/poznan-map.jpg

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena_Abakanowicz

-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Academy_of_Fine_Arts_in_Gda%C5%84sk,_iew_from_distance.jpg

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_realism