Krzysztof M. Bednarski, Bozzetto of the Frederic Chopin monument "La Note Bleue"
Patinated bronze
Dimensions: 40.5 x 29 x 32 cm
Signed work, edition 7/8
Year: 2010
The presented work is a sculptural sketch for the monument to Frederic Chopin, designed by Krzysztof Bednarski, which was unveiled in Vienna in 2010. The author writes about his work as follows: "The design of the monument to Frederic Chopin "La note bleue" refers to the words of George Sand, who saw in Chopin's music an unusual "blue note", synonymous with genius and the mystery of creative inspiration. The designed monument visualizes this moment of creative tension, and at the same time resonance, the consonance of sound and color (hue) The type of representation derives from the tradition of profile images and portrait silhouettes, fashionable during the Romantic period. The characteristic profile shot of the composer, is an easily recognizable image, simple and symbolic. It allows to preserve the requirement of statuary, while resolving the monument by means of modern art [...]." "
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Krzysztof Bednarski - sculptor, author of art installations. He creates and works in Rome and Warsaw. Already from the time of artistic academic formation, one of his most faithful companions became Karl Marx, more precisely - his image. It was then, rendering "Total Portrait of Karl Marx" 1978r , realized under the direction of Professor Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, that he defended his diploma at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Bednarski's creative path is marked by countless inspirations already from the world of personal experience, as well as from the world of poetry, literature, science and pop culture. This has led to famous motifs - including "Moby Dick" or rhombuses and hourglasses. This is just a small sliver of the forms the artist's expression has taken over the years - from plaster sculptures, to casts, to multi-element art installations. A not insignificant role in Bednarski's oeuvre is played by the retrospective disposition, manifested in the constant return to old works, reworking them, showing them in new faces. And it is the latter tendencies that, since the "Passage of Italian Shoes" opened in 1999, give the strongest impression.
Krzysztof M. Bednarski's works are in the collections of the most important Polish museums, such as the National Museums in Krakow, Poznan, Szczecin, Warsaw, Wroclaw, the Museum of Art in Lodz, the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, the Center for Polish Sculpture in Oronsko, the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz, the collections of the Zachęta Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Lodz and Wroclaw, the collection of the Foksal Gallery in Warsaw, as well as in foreign collections, e.g. Among others, the Collezione Giorgio Franchetti in Rome, the Fondazione Federico Fellini in Rimini, the Fondazione Morra in Naples, the Fondazione Orestiadi in Gibellina, Sicily, the Fondazione Mario Schifano in Rome, the Fondazione Caporrella in Rome, the Targetti Light Art Collection in Florence, the Art Museum in Rauma, Finland, and in numerous private collections at home and abroad.
He is the recipient of prestigious awards, including a scholarship from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1988-1989), an award-scholarship from the Minister of Culture and Art for his contribution to the promotion of Polish art abroad (1998), the Katarzyna Kobro Award (2004), the Art Prize of the "Exit" quarterly (2005) and the Golden Owl of Polonia (Vienna, 2012). In 2011, he was awarded the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture. In December 2017, he was awarded the Franco Cuomo International Award by the Italian Senate.
