Maria Papa Rostkowska

June 15th – September 21st 2014
opening: June 15th 2014, 6:00 p.m.

A retrospective exhibition of works by one of the most fascinating Polish sculptresses of the 20th century, the first one organised worldwide. Maria Papa Rostkowska – her story of an independent, strong-willed woman of extraordinary looks, of the “beautiful Slav”, blends in with dramatic history of the century. A Żegota Committee activist decorated with the order of Virtuti Militari and a Warsaw Rising liaison troops member, she felt at home in the heart of Parisian avant-garde of the 1950s. An avid socialist realism ideas follower and smothered by the Warsaw’s oppressive climate of the 1950s, she left for France in a quest for creative freedom. Before discovering her life’s passion – Carrara marble – she found herself in an art salon close to the prestigious XXe Siècle gallery. Yet creation remained her eternal and only inner imperative. She spent the final decades of her life in the Italian town of Pietrasanta, in isolated focus on what she considered the vital sense of her existence – creation of sophisticated, semi-abstract marble sculptures. Today, her shiny-surfaced classicising compositions can be found in prestigious private art collections and public buildings worldwide.

Exhibition under the honorary patronage of Pierre Buhler, French Ambassador to Poland and the Embassy of Italy

Our special thanks for assistance in preparing the exhibition go toNicolas and Joëlle Rostkowski, and Prince Michel Lyszczynski Troiekouroff

Curator: Joanna Torchała
Realization: Maria Ostaszewska-Cichocka
Exhibition design: Marcin Kwietowicz
Graphic design: Fontarte – Magdalena Frankowska, Artur Frankowski