Magdalena Abakanowicz
(1930 - 2007)
born in Falenty, Poland - died in Warsaw, Poland
The metaphoric language of her work has achieved a point of junction, which still is a challenge for mankind, for all its sophisticated civilisation. This is the point where the organic meets the non - organic, where the still alive meets that which is already dead, where all that exist in oppression meet all that strive for liberation in every meaning of this word. With forty years of work behind her one can see her development like a map unfolded on the table.
On this map the human figure belongs to a vast territory inhabited by crowds and flocks of headless figures. The idea of a crowd has many reverberations in her mind. One of them is the transformation of an individual into a cog. The entire population of her figures is enough to fill a large public square. They are today over thousand but they have never been seen together. They remain in various museums, public and private collections in different parts of the world.
EDUCATION
1950-1954 Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland
NOTABLE COLLECTIONS
Australian National Gallery of Art, Canberra, Australia
Caracas Museum of Modern Art, Caracas, Venezuela
Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Citadel Park, Poznan, Poland
Chicago Grant Park, Chicago, USA
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Giuliano Gori, "Spazi d'Arte", Fattoria di Celle, Italy
Ground for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey, USA
Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan
Hess Collection, Napa Valley, California, USA
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., USA
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France
Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo, Norway
Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Japan
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA
Ludwig Museum, Koln, Germany
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw, Poland
Muzeum Narodowe, Wroclaw, Poland
Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan
Museum Wurth, Kunzelsau, Germany
Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
National Museum of Modern Art, Pusan, South Korea
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Phoenix Art Museum Sculpture Garden, Phoenix, USA
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Provinciehuis, s-Hertogenbosch, Holland
Runnymede Sculpture Farm, California, USA
Seoul Olympic Park, Seoul, South Korea
Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Sonja Henies Niels Onstads Stiftelser, Kunstsenter Hovikodden, Norway
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
Storm King Art Center, USA
Sun Jeu Museum, South Korea
Toledo Art Museum, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
Western Washington University, Bellingham, USA
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Woman's Club of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA
Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia, USA