The Gardens of Women Sculptors

The “Gardens of Sculptors” project is an educational trail combining the pleasure of walking with gaining knowledge about women’s art. Visiting the gardens of our museum branches will allow you to become familiar with the work of female artists who have shaped the image of Polish sculpture from the end of the 19th century to the present day.

Not all visitors to the exhibition at the National Museum in Krakow know that, in addition to its priceless collection of works of art, the Krakow museum also has several magnificent gardens and stylish courtyards. The historic garden of the Czapski Branch of the MNK has been included on the list of the Lesser Poland Garden Trail, and in addition to ornamental vegetation and a historical lapidarium, it houses works by two outstanding sculptors: Morpheus by Teofila Certowicz, donated by the artist to the National Museum in 1903, and Walking Figures by Magdalena Abakanowicz. A group of three cast iron figures by the world-famous Polish artist has been located at the back of the garden since 2023. In the courtyard of the MNK Wyspiański, a set of three sculptures by Barbara Falender carved in Dębnik limestone called “black marble” is exhibited: Sarcophagus (for mother), Sarcophagus for parents, and Hommage for Alina Szapocznikow, a gift from the artist to the National Museum in Krakow. The fact that this last sculpture has been donated to our Museum will be highlighted in April this year with a ceremonial unveiling. In accordance with Barbara Falender’s will, the stone sculptures are presented together, creating a very personal funeral triptych - all three concern reflection on transience and death. The artist wanted them to be in Krakow: the city where the long history of Dębnik limestone as an architectural and sculptural material began.

Agata Małodobry

Sculptures on the trail:

Teofila (Tola) Certowicz (1862-1918)
Morpheus
1889
bronze
A gift from the artist to the National Museum in Krakow, 1903

The sculpture is part of a fountain in the garden of the Czapski Palace. The statue is located in a niche of the wall aedicula topped with a triangular pediment. Morpheus is shown as a bearded man in the prime of life. His head is wrapped in a wreath of stylized flowers and poppy fruit, and his arms are crossed on his naked torso. A densely draped fabric decorated with poppy flowers is wrapped around Morpheus’ hips, and at his feet there is an owl - a night bird. The attributes remind us of the properties of the god of dreams: the son of Hypnos and nephew of Thanatos. The subdued decorativeness of the composition is noteworthy: the dominant vertical direction is enriched with asymmetrical accents - fanciful tying of the drapery and decorative flowers of supernatural size and the image of an owl. A reflective, poetic aura emanates from Certowicz’s work, which makes it a prelude to symbolism in Polish sculpture. The cast was made in Paris, as evidenced by the inscription on the pedestal and the signature of the French foundryman.

Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930-2017)
Walking Figures
2005-2006
cast iron
Deposit of the Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz-Kosmowska and Jan Kosmowski Foundation

Three headless figures with simplified anatomy seem to consist only of extended torsos and legs with massive feet captured in a dynamic lunge. The varied texture of the sculptures’ surfaces evokes biological connotations: it resembles wrinkled skin or tree bark. The latter association brings them closer to the surroundings: the old trees of the Czapski Palace garden. They are not figures, but empty shells; forms of imagined figures. They symbolically remind us that each of us will leave a permanent mark after ourselves. Each of the sculptures, like their counterparts from the multi-figure complexes in Poznań, Chicago and Vancouver, was shaped in an exceptional manner: they differ in the arrangement of grooves and drapes on the surface. Combining the constancy of nature with the dynamics of the moment, they remain in a harmonious relationship with each other, with the surrounding nature and with the people visiting the Czapski Garden.

Barbara Falender (born in 1947)
Homage for Alina Szapocznikow
2023
black Dębnik limestone
A gift from the artist

Barbara Falender created this work in homage to the great Polish sculptor – Alina Szapocznikow (1926–1973). She never met her in person, but she has often emphasized the metaphysical bond that connects her with Szapocznikow. The sensual way of thinking about the human body manifested in Alina Szapocznikow’s work is very close to Barbara Falender. The monumental sculptural composition consists of three separate parts that create a lying figure of a woman: a face, a body covered with a blanket and the crossed feet. The details of the body are meticulously polished, and the noble shine of the surface brings out the deep, dark colour of the stone. The smoothness of the sculpted body is contrasted by the surfaces that the artist left unfinished, unprocessed or only roughly chiselled. The organic, raw character of these matte parts reminds us of the sculpting process itself – of the emergence of a corporeal form from a block of stone. After all, it is an expression of respect paid by a sculptor to another sculptor. The first version of the sculpture was created in 1978 and is still located in Warsaw: in the urban open-air space on Ostrobramska Street.

Barbara Falender (born in 1947)
Sarcophagus (for mother)
1993
black Dębnik limestone, pink marble

Sarcophagus (for mother) consists of thirty cubes carved in Dębnik limestone. Arranged tightly in the shape of a rectangular chest, they create a minimalist, spatial structure – based on the rhythms of lines cut at right angles. Inside the sarcophagus, Barbara Falender placed a sculptural epitaph for her mother. By separating the sculpture from the viewers coming from outside, the author communicates the intimate nature of this sculpture: it should not be touched, it is the privilege of the artist - the daughter. To see what is inside, one must lean down, i.e. perform a gesture appropriate to funeral ceremonies, symbolically take part in the farewell of the deceased. In the sarcophagus, as in a reliquary, Falender placed fragments of a woman’s body in a loose arrangement: a face, a hand with a straightened index finger, a foot,and part of a leg. The artist carved it from pink marble – a stone that is almost transparent in places, covered with a network of veins, unevenly coloured like human skin, under which blood circulates. By combining fragments of a realistically rendered body with a cube – one of the perfect Platonic solids, Barbara Falender combined in this sculpture that which is transient with the eternal.

Barbara Falender (born in 1947)
Sarcophagus for parents
2011
Black Dębnik limestone, steel
Purchase under the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage program “Regional collections of contemporary art”, 2016

The sculpture is a reference to ancient sarcophagi, especially Etruscan ones, in which married couples were presented with great tenderness. It also refers to the shape of a cradle, evoking peace and safety. This work was preceded by numerous drawing and sculptural studies, as the artist sought the perfect way to capture the intended composition. The actual weight of the stone block was balanced by the lightness of the presented situation: the titular parents are swinging in a hammock, sleeping under one blanket. The mother and father lie symmetrically opposite each other, their feet touching the cheeks of the other. In this way, they create a closed whole. They complement each other, one dependent on the other and vice versa; they are a unity formed by love. In this work, as in the previous Sarcophagus, corporeality is combined with geometry. The lying parents are suspended in a hammock hung on a steel frame in the form of an open, linear cuboid. The drawings preceding the creation of the sculpture clearly show the idea, which in the final version took the form of a subtle allusion to the initial concept: initially, the artist saw the sarcophagus as a sculpture supported by four pillars. The figures of four young women sitting on the pillars are the daughters of the commemorated couple: the author and her three sisters. The sculpture is interactive - the hammock can be gently rocked. “The movement of the mass of the stone is a denial of its natural statics. It is a metaphor for relief and overcoming death,” the artist explained.

Barbara Falender was born in 1947 in Wroclaw. She graduated in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the studio of Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz. Since her debut in the 1970s, the human body has occupied a central place in her work, both in the sensual aspect and in the context of transience and death. The artist deals with sculpture in the most classical sense: she carves most of her works in stone herself. Sometimes she creates casts in bronze and synthetic materials. Despite its traditional character, Barbara Falender’s art is still very up-to-date. Individual exhibitions presenting the artist’s work are regularly held. Over the past year, she has taken part in important group exhibitions: The Plastic Body. Sculpture from Poland 1960-1989 at the Stavanger Kunstmuseum in Norway and We Want The Whole Life! Feminisms in Polish Art at the State Art Gallery in Sopot.

Agata Małodobry