Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska, Autumn, object - own technique, height 40 cm, 2021
Artwork information: Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska, Autumn, object - own technique, H 40 cm, 2021; three-dimensional object made in own technique from the artist's latest series of works created since 2020. Very good condition. The works of this series, despite the shape of a tree, also encloses itself in the shape of a sphere: "(...) is characterized by (it) spherical spatiality, defined by the artist as entering the sphere. However, she called the turn of entering the sphere not only her long-term formal search, but also her attempt to coherently combine disparate sensations and experiences." The series of spatial objects, both the older ones painted on African calabashes, called calabashes, and the more recent spatial constructions called wings, represent a dialogue between rationality in the construction of form and composition, and emotionality, expression of expression, but also less obvious impression, a reverie on the world around man and himself in the center of nature. The series was created under conditions of lockdown and Covid 19 pandemic, during the artist's stay in Klodzko Valley and Wroclaw.
Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska (1931) received her diploma from the Wroclaw State Higher School of Fine Arts (now the Academy of Fine Arts) in 1956, and from 1961 she was a member of the Wroclaw School (later the Wroclaw Group), bringing together the most outstanding young artists in Wroclaw, most of them students from Prof. E. Geppert's studio. In 1968, the artist presented works from her "Atoms" series at the legendary "Under the Mona Lisa" gallery in Wroclaw, run by Jerzy Ludwinski. She was a participant in the Wrocław '70 Art Symposium, as an artist and co-organizer in Marian Bogusz's team. From 1977 to 1984 she lived in Nigeria, where she taught painting and drawing at the Kwara College of Education in Illorin. Her stay in Africa, as well as numerous other trips, had a great impact on the artist's work, resulting in successive series of works. Versatile in her use of materials and forms of work, she expresses herself in drawing, painting, reliefs, sculptures, objects and spatial installations, using natural materials (calabashes, plant fragments), ceramic techniques and her own techniques. Her painting and other forms fall into several currents of contemporary art from expressionism and magic realism to painterly conceptual forms. It is noteworthy that the expressionism and surrealism in the artist's works stem from the intellectual subjugation of emotions and awareness of the creative process. The artist's works can be found in museum collections including the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Art Museum in Lodz, as well as in private collections at home and abroad.
