By Chris Squiers
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When she was nine Nazi Germany invaded
and occupied Poland. Her family endured the
war years living on the outskirts of Warsaw.
“My work comes from the experience of
crowds, injustice, and aggression… I feel an
affinity for art when it was made a form of
existence, like when shamans worked in the
territory between men and unknown powers…
I try to bewitch the crowd.”
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Magdalena Abakanowicz (born June 20, 1930,
in Falenty, Poland) is a Polish sculptor and
fiber artist.
She is notable for her use of textiles as a
sculptural medium.
She was a professor at the Academy of Fine
Arts in Poznań, Poland from 1965 to 1990.
Abakanowicz currently lives and works in
Warsaw.
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Identification: BY Magdalena, 1985
Content: “They are about existence in general”
Patron: Purchased by Lila Wallace
Site: Private, no display, not meant for others.
Materials: Burlap. Wood, nails, resin, and
string- Simplicities of life.
Scale: human-esque torso, hunch to describe
human condition.
Purpose: To make a statement about burden.
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Style:
Expressive
Not a lot of color, bland nature
Still seems human, how soulless beings still
wear the mask of man.
Just the torso, represents the body, the physical
Compare to the full body thinker, while this
contemplates it does so with blind judgment.
Meant to see full round, symmetric, balanced.
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Agora is the name of a group of 106 headless
and armless iron sculptures at the south end of
Grant Park in Chicago.
The entire installation is about 300 feet (91 m)
long.
Each is made from a hollow, seamless piece of
iron that has been allowed to rust, creating a
reddish appearance[5] and a bark-like texture.
The figures appear to be milling about in a
crowd; some face each other, while others look
away.
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Purpose: To show the fear of crowds, brainless
organisms.
Magdalena grew up in World War 2.
Commissioned by the Polish Ministry Culture
of Chicago.
Meant to feel like one is lost in a crowd.
Idealistic, no heads to show people perform
actins without thinking, simply following
orders.
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Birds of Knowledge of Good and Evil is a
public artwork by Polish sculptor Magdalena
Abakanowicz. It is located on the Kilbourn
Avenue boulevard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
United States. The 2001 aluminum sculpture
consists six pieces organized in columns.
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Birds of Knowledge of Good and Evil is an
aluminum sculpture located near E Kilbourn Ave
& N Cass St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202.
The sculpture faces toward Lake Michigan. It
contains six separate pieces, each piece depicting a
bird.
Three of the birds have two wings and the other
three birds have four wings. All of the bird’s wings
are at different angles.
The six birds are arranged to mimic the ground
they are set up on.
Although the sculpture represents birds they are
not depicted in full detail.
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When asked about her work Abakanowicz
states, “perhaps the experience of the crowd,
waiting passively in line, but ready to trample,
destroy or afore on command like a headless
creature, became the core of my analysis."
Along with the bird's lack of heads their
surface is that of an organic texture. This is
juxtaposed with their aluminum material.