177.0 x 80.0cm - patinated bronze
PIOTR, 2009
full dimensions of the sculpture: 177 x 79 x 31 cm
Signed on the horizontal beam of the base:
PIOTR M. ABAKANOWICZ 2009 MA [tied monogram].
PAWEŁ, 2009
full size of the sculpture: 177 x 80 x 33 cm
Signature on the horizontal beam of the base:
PAWEŁ ABAKANOWICZ 2009 MA [tied monogram].
Provenance:
- Until 2018 property of the artist's family.
- Since 2018 private collection.
Sculptures exhibited, described and reproduced:
- Scheffel Gallery, Bad Homburg von der Höhe, September 5 - October 4, 2009, il. pp. 46, 48-49 (Paul); pp. 47, 50-51 (Peter);
- 20 Jähre sächsische Akademie der Künste, Dresden, 18 VI - 19 IX 2016, il. p. 5 (Peter);
- Traces of Existence, In Tribute to Magdalena Abakanowicz, Contemporary Museum, Wrocław, 22 VI - 25 VIII 2017, pos. nlb, p. 150, il. pp. 78, 80-81 (Paul), il. pp. 79-80 (Piotr);
- Warsaw Art Fair, Warsaw 5 - 7 X 2018;
- Magdalena Abakanowicz. Catalogue Raisonné, p. 535, cat. 1447 and 1448.
Magdalena Abakanowicz's work and activity in artistic life place her in the leading group of Polish artists of world stature, such as Tadeusz Kantor, Roman Opałka, Wojciech Fangor, Alina Szapocznikow, to limit ourselves to artists of her generation. What unites artistic personalities of this class is the innovation and universalist message of the works.
Both these qualities were represented by Abakanovich from the beginning of her career. At its threshold, she created abacanas - forms based on traditional plastics and weaving techniques, which she called by the acronym of her name. This artistic "invention" expressed her most essential aspirations, for she was, at the core of her artistic personality, a sculptor. To this field she devoted her mature years.
The artist's sculptures, like abacanas, contain a feature of technical innovation, but they do not end there. She used both traditional means (castings in bronze and other metals, stone, wood) and those derived from her earlier experience (works molded from fabrics fixed with resins). Technique was only a means, the goal of her work was to capture space. Abakanowicz's works work with scale and number. The forms, usually anthropomorphic (but not exclusively so), make up the "multitudes" populating the spaces given to her in public squares and parks or outdoor private collections around the world. The multiplication of the figures and the way they are arranged have a strong effect on the viewer placed in front of a crowd (row, group) of identical figures. Their appearance, number and scale arouse emotions, raise questions and stir the imagination.
The smallest form of multiplication is duplication. Two identical or similar figures are not a "crowd," but no longer a single sculpture affecting with its unique expression. Peter and Paul stand on the borderline between large-scale sculpture and intimate sculpture intended for the interior. The figures are not multiples cast from a single mold. They are brought together by their human scale, and differ by their details. However, they have been paired by their much-talked-about names. We don't know whether the artist's intention was to evoke a pair of the most important apostles of Christianity, or a simple figurative reference on a pars pro toto basis to the idea of duplicity or evenness. Either way, the figures themselves, as well as the names given to them, arouse curiosity, intrigue and provoke multiple reflections. They are a vehicle for thought, imagination, aesthetic satisfaction that comes from contact with a work of art.
* * *
In the sculptural composition Peter and Paul, the texture of the silhouettes refers to crumpled, furrow-marked fabric - jute, while the platforms on which the figures stand have a texture reminiscent of wood. Developing the expressive surface of the figures, the artist used various textural solutions: textures that are smooth, but also suggestive of the weave of fibers and the grain of wood. Mariusz Hermansdorfer wrote about the sculptural expression of the artist's works as follows: Abakanowicz rejects everything that is beautiful, decorative, that dresses up, camouflages. She peels off layer after layer, as if she were pulling the skin off a person. What remains is only what is necessary, what - perhaps - is only real.
The composition is an example of realizations typical of Magdalena Abakanowicz - figures subjected to sculptural synthesis, simplified, devoid of details, which is supposed to indicate the dehumanization of man and the loss of individual characteristics. The sculptures refer, perhaps, to the figures of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, men subjected to severe trials and suffering. According to this interpretation, the figures may symbolize human perseverance in pursuit of a goal.
♣ A fee will be added to the auctioned price in addition to other costs, based on the right of the creator and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Law of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).
Magdalena Abakanowicz (Falenty near Warsaw 20. VI 1930 - Warsaw 20. IV 2017) studied in Gdansk (1949-1950) and at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts (1950-1954). She taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (1965-1990). Since the early 1960s, she was involved in unique textiles, creating original spatial forms, named "abakans" after her. In 1965 she won the Gold Medal at the Second International Biennale of Textiles in Sao Paulo. In the 1970s, she began creating figural series in resin-cured jute: "Alterations" (from 1974), "Backs" (1976-80), "Embryology" (1978-80), "Crowds" (from 1986). Since the 1980s, the artist has been practicing outdoor sculpture, using wood, clay, stone and casts (the "Crowds" groups, "Katharsis" in a private collection in Italy, "Negev" - 7 colossal stone circles in the Israel Museum park in Jerusalem). In 1987 she began work on "War Games," large projectile-like forms constructed from natural wood and iron. Since 1991, she has been developing the concept of "arboreal architecture," originally designed as an extension of the La Defense axis in Paris, which she promotes as a solution to the problems of large agglomerations. She has participated in the most important reviews of contemporary art, such as the Sao Paulo Biennale (1965, 1979), the Venice Biennale (1968, 1980) and others. She has won many Polish and foreign awards.
