HISTORY 

imagofeminae summer 2022 XXXIII

female ART

image: Self Portrait 1924-1925 oil on canvas

69,5× 55,5 cm, Family collection warszawa. foto: by imagofeminae- Paiman Davarifard at the  Exhibition @ Museum Narodowe w Poznaniu- Posen Poland. August 13 , 2022 imagofeminae XXXIII

About MARIA NICZ-BOROWIAKOWA (1896-1944)

by Agnieszka Skalska

Maria Nicz-Borowiakowa entered the art scene 100 years ago. She completed her studies in 1920. She studied at the WSSP at the same time as Teresa Żarnowerówna, Hanna Rudzka, Mieczysław Szczuka, and Henryk Stażewski. At that time, more than half of the student community was made up of women. Avant-garde is the first time for women in the history of art. After graduation, she joined the BLOK Suprematist and Constructivist Cubist, and then to Praesens. She participated in almost all exhibitions of these groups. Her works are included in the International Collection of Modern Art of the "a.r." The short period of her creative activity, spanning only a few years, coincided with a fascinating period of art history. Never before have new directions, ideas and artistic programs emerged so quickly. The avant-garde was the key word of this era. The painting of the Maria Nicz-Borowiakowa fits into this time. Early paintings refer to the style of Young Poland, to Art Nouveau. We know her expressionist and formist compositions. She painted under the influence of futurism and surrealism. She was close to purism and constructivism.The showpiece of the exhibition is "Still Life with a Fish" from 1925, one of the artist's most interesting works, combining abstraction with object representations, or rather their allusions. Next to this painting, we show the self-portrait and the portrait of the mother, almost from the same time, almost realistic works. This is one of the many intriguing combinations at this exhibition.The artist combined various painting styles. She was a radical constructivist, but also remained faithful to representational art. In abstract paintings one can see a passion for decorativeness, even though - as Adolf Loos wrote - "ornament is a crime".The exhibition allows you to see the transformations of motifs on subsequent canvases, and to trace the work on the development of the form. This can be seen not only in the juxtaposition of sketches with pictures, but also in inter-picture relations. Abstract paintings contain discreet allusions to objects. The portraits, on the other hand, bear traces of the experience of abstraction. In the late portrait of the daughter there was an almost supremacist composition, and in the portrait of her husband - a reference to the architects of Malevich. Discovering the mutual inter-picture inspirations, the artist's painterly thinking, the workshop of the avant-garde artist.

History avant-garde

MARIA NICZ-BOROWIAKOWA (1896-1944)

Exhibition @ Museum Narodowe w Poznaniu- Posen Poland. 07.08 - 27.11.2022

Curator: Agnieszka Salamon-Radecka

& Agnieszka Skalska.

Co-curator: Agata Mendrychowska

Arrangement & visual identification:

Dr. Raman Tratsiuk.

Report by: Paiman Davarifard

Report edited by: Paiman Davarifard, Boriana Pertchinska, Agnieszka Skalska, Dr. Sandra Boihmane.

image: Plakat Exhibition @ Museum Narodowe w Poznaniu- Posen Poland.  foto: by imagofeminae August 13, 2022

image: Exhibition MARIA NICZ-BOROWIAKOWA (1896-1944)@ Museum Narodowe w Poznaniu- Posen Poland. foto: by Dr. Raman Tratsiuk.

image: Exhibition MARIA NICZ-BOROWIAKOWA (1896-1944)@ Museum Narodowe w Poznaniu- Posen Poland. foto: by Dr. Raman Tratsiuk.