Artist Biography: Abakanowicz

Magdalena Abakanowicz Magdelana Abakanowicz was born in 1930 near Falenty, Poland. Between 1950 and 1954 she studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, and sought to escape from the conventional art forms through weaving. This artist has gone through many significant artistic changes. From 1954 - 1960 she painted a series of large gouaches on paper and canvas. She described that feelings, "My medium will be a part of my self and painting is just a forerunner of my …

…which buildings organic in shape, are vertical gardens. Creates "Bronze Crowd", group of 36 figures. Then from 1993-99 she had an explosion of creative pieces each symbolizing her feelings regarding war, family, and hard life issues. During 2000 she created a crowd of 95 figures standing and walking in bronze. She has been Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, Poland, 1965/90, and Visiting Professor at the U.C.L.A. (1984) Magdalena Abakanowicz lives and works in Warsaw.