Alina Szapocznikow Poland, 1926-1973
Further images
The frailty and vulnerability of the human body both fascinated and haunted Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973). Born in Poland to a Jewish family, she survived the Holocaust and went on to study art in Prague and Paris. Her early figurative sculptures in a classical style gave way in the early 1960s to radical representations of the female form based on casts of her own body. The double self-portrait Autoportret II is a typically strange assemblage of fragmented body parts recalling the language of Surrealism. From the front, we see three roughly modelled wing-like forms framing a section of Szapocznikow’s face which is balanced on two splayed toes. From behind, the artist’s visage appears again, but here her rye smile is replaced by a sombre expression. Speaking to the violence and trauma of war, this fragmentary bust demonstrates how Szapocznikow used the body to powerfully interrogate the complexities of human experience.
Provenance
Estate of the artist
With Galerie Louevenbruck
Private collection, Paris, acquired from the above in 2013
Private collection, acquired from the above in 2015
With Hauser & Wirth, London
With Phillips Private Sales
Private collection, acquired from the above in March 2024
Exhibitions
Editions of this work were included in the following exhibitions:
Paris, Florence Houston-Brown, Alina Szapocznikow, April - May 1967, n.p. (illustrated in the artist's studio, n.p.)
Warsaw, Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Alina Szapocznikow, Rzezba, July 1967, no. 32, n.p
Carrara, V Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, July - August 1967, p. 269 (illustrated)
Paris, Galerie Philippe Demay, Ni Fleurs, ni Couronnes, November 1974
Lodz, Muzeum Sztuki, Alina Szapocznikow: 1926-1973, September 1975 – May 1977, (no. 102, n.p.). The exhibition travelled to: Warsaw, National Museum (no. 86, n.p.); Poznan, Salon BWA (no.91); Krakow, Palac Sztuki i Galeria Pryzmat (no. 77); Bydgoszczy, Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych (no. 80, n.p.); Gdansk, National Museum; Lund Konsthall (no. 40, p. 15)
Paris, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Alina Szapocznikow: From Drawing into Sculpture, February - May 2013, no. G, pp. 96-97,176 (illustrated, pp. 96-97)
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Alina Szapocznikow / Body Traces, February - May 2014, pp. 58, 106 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 58)
London, White Cube, Dreamers Awake, June - September 2017 (another example exhibited)
Wakefield, The Hepworth Wakefield, Alina Szapocznikow: Human Landscapes, October 2017 - October 2018, no. 41, pp. 106, 184, 203, 206 (illustrated, p. 106). The exhibition travelled to Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
New York & London, Hauser & Wirth, To Exalt the Ephemeral: Alina Szapocznikow, 1962-1972, October 2019 - August 2020, pp. 60-61 (illustrated)
Literature
Lech Grabowski, 'Na przykład Szapocznikow', Przegląd Artystyczny, 1968, no. 2, pp. 48-49 (illustrated, p.49)
'Alina Szapocznikow', Przekrój, 8 April 1973, no. 1461 (illustrated)
Bartlomiej Kurka, 'Alina Szapocznikow', Nurt, 1976, no. 6, p. 32 (illustrated)
Janusz Zagrodzki, Alina Szapocznikow, Warsaw, 1979, no. 20, n.p. (illustrated, n.p.)
Jola Gola, Katalog Rzeźb, Aliny Szapocznikow, Krakow, 2001, no. 323, p. 140