ABAKANOWICZ, MAGDALENA

* 20.6.1930 FALENTY, † 20.4.2017 WARSAW

Born in 1930, the sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz came from a Polish aristocratic family. With the Second World War and the subsequent Soviet regime, the family faced great hardship and atrocities. Abakanowicz studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk from 1941 to 1954, but even then harboured a great fascination for sculptural works. The difficult economic situation behind the Iron Curtain led Abakanowicz to use found materials such as ropes, textiles, etc. for her sculptures. From 1956, she worked as an independent artist and her sometimes monumental textile sculptures became her trademark. She was awarded the Grand Prix at the 1965 Sao Paulo Biennial for her ‘Abakans’. She continued to develop her wall works and created heads, animals, figures, etc.

From 1965 to 1990 she held a professorship at the Poznan Academy of Art. In 1984 she was also visiting professor at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Magdalena Abkanowicz's international standing and the recognition of her artistic and social influence were confirmed by numerous honours and awards, such as the Sculpture Prize of the Sculpture Centre New York, the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Resituta, her appointment as Officer of the Order of Arts and Sciences in Paris and as Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy. She also received honorary doctorates from the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, the Pratt Institute in New York, the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and many more. In 2010, Abakanowicz was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Magdalena Abakanowicz died in Warsaw in 2017.

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Works by this artist from our auctions

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