Meeting by the sculpture pt. 1
On 14 January (Thursday) we invite for a meeting at which Anka Ptaszkowska will speak about the work by Henryk Stażewski. It is one of few opportunities to see paintings by Stażewski from Ptaszkowska’s private collection, currently deposited in Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art.
At the beginning of the 1930s Henryk Stażewski made various furniture projects in gouache. Painted in primary colours and consisting of shelves of different sizes, tables, étagères and bookstands were made in compliance with the rules of neoplasticism, postulated by Piet Mondrian. In the second Announcement of the ‘a.r’ group from1932, Stażewski stipulated that furniture be treated as “an element of architecture”, which in turn ought to comply with surroundings discreetly influencing users’ wellbeing. He also indicated the necessity of an ergonomic projecting, one that combines “the rhythm of movements, dimensions and colours” with a man’s size.
Anka Ptaszkowska – neither an art historian, nor art critic. In the 1950s and 1960s she belonged to “Grupa Zamek” from Lublin. She created Foksal gallery in Warsaw with Mariusz Tchorek and Wiesław Borowski. She collaborated with Henryk Stażewski, Maria Ewa Łunkiewicz Rogoyska, Tadeusz Kantor, Edward Krasiński, Krzysztof Niemczyk. She defended their art in any available Polish press of the time. She was Edward Krasiński’s wife. In 1970 she left Foksal Gallery and went to Paris with Eustachy Kossakowski. With Michel Claura, Francois Guinochet and Daniel Buren as an advisor, she managed a gallery in Paris that successively changed its address at any manifestation. She worked with Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Andre Cadere, Carl Andre and other artists of international conceptual and minimal avant-garde. In 1983-2003 she taught the history of modern art at the Ecole Supérieure d'Arts et Médias in Caen. She published articles on art in ArtPress monthly and Tygodnik Powszechny. In 1983 with Pontus Hulten she organized an exchange of Polish and American students. In its aftermath, Łódź’s Museum of Art received an invaluable collection of American modern art as a gift. In 2007 Ha!Art publishing house published her two-volume book “Żywot Krzysztofa Niemczyka na użytek młodych pokoleń” (The Life of Krzysztof Niemczyk so it can be used by future generations) and Niemczyk’s novel “Kurtyzana i Pisklęta albo krzywe zwierciadło namiętnego działania, lub analiza chaosu” (A Courtesan and Chicks; or a distorting mirror of passionate work, or an analysis of chaos). In 2010 she published a book “Wierzę w wolność, ale nie nazywam się Beethoven” (I believe in freedom yet my name isn’t Beethoven) in “słowo/obraz terytoria”. Currently she holds private evenings of reflections on art in Eustachy Kossakowski’s former studio in Paris.
Meeting by the sculpture is a series of mini-lectures in the exhibition space, organized on Thursday evenings. Prominent specialists (curators, art historians and theoreticians) will discuss the works in the collection of the Królikarnia’s Sculpture Museum. They have exceptional knowledge of works and authors on display.
The meeting is a part of a programme accompanying the exhibition “Zbigniew Libera: It’s not my fault that this sculpture rubbed againts me”.
Other events this month
Meeting by the sculpture pt. 1
On 14 January (Thursday) we invite for a meeting at which Anka Ptaszkowska will speak about the work by Henryk Stażewski. It is one of few opportunities to see paintings by...
Promotional meeting of “Szyldy na Starym Mieście w Warszawie”(Signboards in...
Side signboards are one of the most outstanding decorative elements of Warsaw’s Old Town. They capture our attention with their original form and meticulous workmanship. The...
Sculpture collages – making a new object for an exhibition
All sculptures selected for the exhibition go along with an authorial commentary in the form of Zbigniew Libera’s drawings. What drawing could fit the Królikarnia...
Film portraits of the artists: Władysław Hasior
On 19 January come and watch a film portrait of Władysław Hasior. Polska Sztuka Współczesna [Polish Modern Art] (10’), dir. Konstanty Gordon, commentary: Jadwiga...
Performative tour for people with vision defects
Królikarnia celebrates its 50th anniversary. On this occasion we have prepared an exhibition consisting of sculptures that visual artist Zbigniew Libera selected from...
Anniversary exhibition in English
24 January, Sunday, at 12am, come for an English tour through the exhibition “Zbigniew Libera: It's Not My Fault That This Sculpture rubbed againts me” Guide:...
Free tour around the sculpture storerooms of Xawery Dunikowski
On Tuesday 26 January it will have been 52 years after Xawery Dunikowski’s death. On this day come for a special tour around the sculpture storerooms of Xawery Dunikowski!...
Concert accompanying Joanna Halszka Sokołowska plays Franz Schubert Winterreise...
The legendary song cycle by Franz Schubert, composed to Wilhelm Müller’s poems, is the classic of classical music, an indispensable element of musical canon, one of the...