2024-04-23
The exhibition at the National Museum in Poznań is the first fully monographic account of Maria Nicz-Borowiakowa, one of the most important representatives of Polish constructivism. She was a member of "Blok" and collaborated with the group "Praesens". The exhibition about her life and work can be seen until the end of November this year.
The objects presented at the exhibition come from the collections of the Museum of Art in Łódź, the National Museum in Poznań and private collections. The exhibition features, among others, paintings or a set of sketchbooks from the period when Maria Nicz-Borowiakowa was a student at Stanisław Lentz's studio at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts. Particularly noteworthy is also a unique collection of photographs of the artist, made available by her granddaughter. The event is accompanied by an extensive, profusely illustrated catalogue. The curators of the exhibition are Agnieszka Salamon-Radecka and Agnieszka Skalska.
Maria Nicz-Borowiakowa received her higher artistic education at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts in the studio of Stanisław Lentz. In 1922, she went to Paris, where she became acquainted with Cubist painting. From 1924, she was a member of the first Constructivist artistic group in Poland: "Block of Cubists, Suprematists and Constructivists". As befits a Constructivist, apart from painting (in which she combined simplified elements of nature with abstract forms), she was also involved in other fields of art. She designed scenography, furniture or occasionally created architectural studies. The artist's wide-ranging artistic explorations are noteworthy. Nicz-Borowiakowa was initially inspired by Art Nouveau, before moving on to a fascination with Polish Formism, later becoming intrigued by Cubism and finally arriving at abstraction. Due to her husband's illness, the artist stopped creating around 1930. The few surviving works from this period show a tendency to return to representational art.