Magdalena Abakanowicz

Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, Ill.)

Magdalena Abakanowicz is considered by many critics and artists alike to be the foremost artist working with fiber in the world today. That she is now considered a leading sculptor, as well, indicates how far she has come since her innovative, imposing woven "Abakans" of the 1960s led the way for a decade of experimentation by many artists with fiber as a medium for expression or as a medium for the making of art. Her work proved to have the strength to break with the venerable tradition of tapestry going back to the Middle Ages, and to transform radically our expectations of woven objects from being craft to fine art. The occasion of this first comprehensive retrospective of Magdalena Abakanowicz's work marks an important point in the career of the artist. -- From preface.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

"Magdalena Abakanowicz was born to aristocratic parents in 1930 and raised on their country estate. She came of age against the tumultuous background of World War II and its aftermath. Today she is revered for her uncompromising, individualistic vision developed in her native Poland under the hostile eyes of the repressive Communist regime that was in power for most of her adult life. She has personally witnessed the worst of humanity's instinct for destructive behavior and has made art that unflinchingly presents the human condition. She had, by the 1960s, gained the beginning of an international reputation as a sculptor in soft materials with the creation of monumental environments called Abakans." "She changed sculpture from "object to look at" into "space to experience". Monumental, powerful compositions in bronze or stone, iron or concrete have been created for specific locations and are permanently installed as environments accessible to people." "Magdalena Abakanowicz also draws and paints, has choreographed dances performed by Japanese and Polish youngsters, and has designed Arboreal Architecture - buildings as "vertical gardens" - to be used as part of an extension to the principal axis in the city of Paris." "She has been determined from the very beginning to build her own vision of reality. She has never followed trends, all her creations being dictated by her imagination." --Book Jacket.

Magdalena Abakanowicz

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