Thanks to financial support from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the MNK\u2019s collection of contemporary art has been expanded with new acquisitions. As part of the project \u201cDialogue with Modernism: Contemporary Art in the Collection of the National Museum in Krak\u00f3w\u201d, in 2016 we acquired for our collection exceptional works that engage perfectly with the modernist tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barbara Falender<\/strong>, two outdoor sculptures<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarcophagus (Sarcophagus for Mother)<\/em>, 1993, black marble (D\u0119bnik, Poland), pink marble<\/p>\n\n\n\n (\u015aludanka, Bulgaria), 95 x 112 x 148<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarcophagus for Parents<\/em>, 2011, marble, steel, 200 x 405 x 154 cm;<\/p>\n\n\n\n The acquired works are characteristic of Barbara Falender\u2019s entire oeuvre, forming part of a body of work on similar themes that she has created in recent decades, addressing identity, memory, the body and female sexuality. The artist is distinguished by her superb craftsmanship, her feel for a material as challenging as marble, her consistent yet creative development of her own sculptural vision, and her unique interplay with traditional sculptural materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Sarcophagus for Parents\u2019, due to its weight and massiveness, tends to lean downwards; however, by suspending this work in space, the artist lends it an unexpected lightness. The human figures depicted, nestled together in a hammock in a position of complete calm and relaxation, seem to be lulled to sleep by a \u2018gentle rocking\u2019. At the same time, a certain drama can be discerned in the depiction. The sculpture is dedicated to the artist\u2019s parents, who have passed away. Referencing the monumental sarcophagi known from art history, Falender speaks of the private sphere, expressing the delicate, unique relationship that bound her to her mother and father. Despite its large size, unlike traditional monumental works, the sarcophagus of Falender\u2019s parents is an extremely intimate piece. In doing so, the artist challenges existing conventions of representation. She utilises them freely and alters them in an attempt to present her own private story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same applies to the second \u2018Sarcophagus\u2019, where the cubic form, made of black marble typically used for gravestones, is contrasted with a sculpture of a fragment of a woman\u2019s body, crafted from pink marble. It can be viewed as a monumentalisation of an intimate reflection on transience and the decay of the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The acquisition of these two large-scale sculptures for the Museum\u2019s collection has allowed for the expansion of the modest collection of works by Barbara Falender, previously represented in the National Museum in Krak\u00f3w\u2019s collection solely by the 1978 work *Odp\u0142yw*.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrzej Paw\u0142owski<\/strong>, Hipogryf<\/em> from the \u201cHeliograms\u201d series, 1956<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paw\u0142owski\u2019s heliographs are unique objects. They are phototypes in which the image is the result of projecting artificial or natural light onto light-sensitive paper through flat or three-dimensional, semi-transparent paper models with geometric shapes. The acquired work Hippogriff<\/em> from the \u2018Heliograms\u2019 series is an example of the artist\u2019s early experiments with this technique and perfectly illustrates his concept of the Naturally Shaped Form. In this theory, the role of chance is significant; this has particularly interested artists since the first Surrealist works, which emerged from the theory of automatic writing. In Paw\u0142owski\u2019s concept, the experiences of Dadaism\u2014with its emphasis on the role of the absurd\u2014and Surrealism\u2014with its metaphysical meaning of existence\u2014are layered upon one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hippogriff is a heliograph, and no authorised exhibition replica of this work in the form of a photograph exists. (In 1978, Andrzej Paw\u0142owski produced such replicas in larger formats than the heliographs for several works from the \u2018Heliograms\u2019 series).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The work complements the modest collection of Andrzej Paw\u0142owski\u2019s works in the National Museum in Krak\u00f3w (2 paintings and 6 sculptures), 5 of which are on permanent display in the 20th-Century Painting Gallery. The opportunity to display this artist\u2019s heliographs will enrich the presentation of the Second Krak\u00f3w Group\u2014a phenomenon of that period that stands out against the backdrop of Polish Socialist Realism\u2014with a unique example from the field of photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrzej Zi\u0119bli\u0144ski<\/strong>, Frame A7980 5050<\/em>, 1978\u20131983<\/p>\n\n\n\n The painting Kadr A7980 5050<\/em> is an important element of Andrzej Zi\u0119bli\u0144ski\u2019s prolific oeuvre. The point of reference for the painting\u2019s intricate composition is geometry, the language of which the artist uses to develop a surrealist reflection on the representation of reality on canvas. In it, the artist refers to the concept of the \u2018golden mean\u2019 and convergent perspective. These are means of \u2018expanding\u2019 the internal space of the painting to infinity. Kadr A7980 5050<\/em> is divided into nine abstract spaces that engage in a visual dialogue with one another. It should be viewed through 3D glasses. This original way of viewing the painting provokes reflection on the various ways of looking at works of art proposed over the years by the modernist tradition. Until now, the MNK collection contained only one painting by Andrzej Zi\u0119bli\u0144ski. Three other works by this artist are on loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piotr (Peter) Grzybowski<\/strong>, Untitled\/Painting 3 from the series \u2018Paintings\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The art of Piotr Grzybowski, one of the most important Polish performers of the Krak\u00f3w neo-avant-garde of the 1980s, is part of artistic practice involving the documentation of performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The painting entitled \u2018Painting 3\u2019 refers to performance actions in which the direct experience of the event is paramount. It belongs to the artist\u2019s graduation series at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krak\u00f3w. It was created on the basis of photographic documentation of actions performed in Krak\u00f3w during martial law in a private flat. Modelled on colour photography, it is formally interesting. One can discern in it streaks of light and indefinite shapes that the \u201ccamera\u2019s eye\u201d failed to capture in the darkness. Peter Grzybowski\u2019s work stands out against the backdrop of documentation of ephemeral art, which is usually recorded using photography or video. It complements the performance documentation in the collection of the National Museum in Krak\u00f3w, which comprises works by Zbigniew Warpechowski, Julian Jo\u0144czyk and Adam Rzepecki. It serves as a vital link between modernist art, based on the object of the painting, and ephemeral art, arising from the experiences of conceptualism\u2014which transcends modernism\u2014and expressed through performance art. Due to his exceptionally interesting body of work, the artist is increasingly being recognised by art historians. The purchased painting is the first work by Piotr Grzybowski in the National Museum in Krakow\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thanks to financial support from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the MNK\u2019s collection of contemporary art has been expanded with new acquisitions. As part of the project \u201cDialogue with Modernism: Contemporary Art in the Collection of the National Museum in Krak\u00f3w\u201d, in 2016 we acquired for our collection exceptional works that engage perfectly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[465],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-additions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33547,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33544\/revisions\/33547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.mnk.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}