Magdalena Abakanowicz

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Magdalena Abakanowicz

• Jacqueline Win
• Per. 3

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Big Wings Flyer
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Seated Figure
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Iron Heads
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80 Backs
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Mutants
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Skull I
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Biography

• Born in Falenta, Poland near Warsaw, Magdalena
  Abakanowicz is one of Polands most well known
  artists. Throughout her life, she has been raised
  and is also currently living in Warsaw. She began
  her career working with softer materials which
  allowed her to create her first major
  accomplishment which were called the Abakans.
  After winning a gold medal at the 1967 Sao Paulo
  Biennial, her career in arts truly began. After
  awhile, Abakanowicz then switched from softer
  materials to harder materials such as clay and
  metal in order to form her second big
  accomplishment called the Bronze Crowd. After her
  claim to fame, Magdalena was offered a job
  teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan.
  Though she is not currently teaching at the
  moment, Abakanowicz is still busy traveling the
  world, showing off her wonderful works of art.

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Time Line

• Born in 1930 in Falenty, Poland
• Raised in Warsaw, Poland
• Studied in Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in
  1950-1954
• First began working as a painter, and weaver
  where she used softer materials
• First major achievement was the Abakans
• Won gold medal for Abakans at the 1967 Sao Paulo
  Biennial which was the beginning of her career.
• In the 1970s Abakanowicz changes the materials
  she uses by switching from softer materials such
  as cloth to harder materials such as wood and
  bronze
• From 1979 to 1990, she was a teacher at the
  Academy of Fine Arts at Poznan.
• 1991 Abakanowicz got commission from Paris
  authorities to develop the western side of La
  Defence.
• 2002 made the largest figurative sculptures of
  our time.

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A crowd of people or birds, insects, or leaves,
is a mysterious assemblage of variants of certain
prototype. A riddle of natures abhorrence of
exact repetition or inability to produce it. Just
as a human hand cannot repeat its own gesture, I
invite this disturbing law, switching my own
immobile herds into that rhythm.
-Magdalena Abakanowicz
Dancing Figures
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War Games

• "This title is atypical of me. Other names
  are either strictly descriptive, like 'Plecy'
  Backs or 'Postaci siedzace' Seated Figures,
  or very distant, metaphorical, like 'Embriologia'
  Embriology, which refers to science and not to
  a set of objects sewn from sackcloth. If that
  series had a different name, it may have evoked
  totally different associations".

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Gruby

• "I do not like rules and regulations. They are
  enemies of imagination".

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After many years soft things of complicated
tissue have become my material. I feel a
relationship and kinship with the world which I
do not want to know but through touching,
feeling, and relating to the part of myself which
I carry deep inside. There is no tool between
me and the material I create with. I choose it
with my hands. I shape it with my hands. My hands
transmit my energy to it. By translating an idea
into a shape, they will always pass on something
escaping conceptualization. They will reveal the
unconscious. -Magdalena
Abakanowicz

• After many years soft things of complicated
  tissue have become my material. I feel a
  relationship and kinship with the world which I
  do not want to know but through touching,
  feeling, and relating to the part of myself which
  I carry deep inside. There is no tool between
  me and the material I create with. I choose it
  with my hands. I shape it with my hands. My hands
  transmit my energy to it. By translating an idea
  into a shape, they will always pass on something
  escaping conceptualization.
• They will reveal the unconscious.
• -Magdalena Abakanowicz

INSTALLATION OF ROPES
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BRONZE CROWD The bronze crowd made of bronze is
located at Raymond Nasher Collection in Dallas,
Texas is one of Abakanowiczs most well known
sculptures. There are thirty six headless figures
standing upright each on 183 x 55 x 35 cm.
Abakanowicz uses repetition for this work of art.
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Abakans Black Environment -Abakans were first
major independent achievement -soft
sculptures -suspended from ceiling -made from
fabric and in sets
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Backward Seated Figures

In this work of art, Abakanowicz uses an element
of art by using shape, size, and texture. The
sizes of each sculpture is relatively large even
compared to humans which allows the art to seem
very intimidating. The artist also creates the
shape of each figure to imitate those of a seated
person. By making the figures slump over, her
work seems dark and scary. Another element that
is included in this artwork is her use of
texture. Magdalena chooses to add texture to the
sculpture in order to make it look rough and
unfinished.
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Bird II, III, and V
In this piece of art, Magdalena chose to use
repetition. Even though each bird is unique in
its own way, the artist uses a principle of
design by repeating the shape and overall
similarity of the sculpture. All 3 birds are
about the same size with their wings spread out,
like they are in flight. By using more than one
bird, the flight doesnt seem as lonely but
more uplifting.
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Purpose

• Magdalena Abakanowicz is known for her
  abstract artwork. She has made a name for herself
  from the countless headless figures and armless
  sculptures that she has created. Much of her work
  is related to humans and mankind and also from
  the expression of her childhood experiences.

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Works Cited

• www.abakanowicz.art.pl/
• http//www.metmuseum.org/explore/Abakanowicz/aba1.
  htm
• http//www.culture.pl/en/culture/artykuly/os_abaka
  nowicz_magdalena
• Magdalena Abakanowicz Working Process E Non Solo
  by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Abraham Marie
  Hammacher, Giuliano Gori