Biography

Magdalena Więcek (1924 – 2008) – one of the most respected Polish post-war sculptors. From 1945-1949, she studied painting and sculpture at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Sopot, in the years 1949-1952 she continued her sculpture studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She received a diploma in sculpture in 1952.

In 1959, her first individual exhibition occurred at the Krzywe Koło Gallery in Warsaw. In her artistic career, she had many individual shows, she also took part in numerous group exhibitions.

In September 1959, the artist participated in the Premiere Biennale de Paris. Manifestation Biennale et Internationale des Jeunes Artistes (France). From 1963-1964 she took part in the International Bildhauer Symposion in Sankt Margarethen in Burgenland (Austria), organized and initiated by the Austrian sculptor Karl Prantl. In July 1965, the 1st Biennale of Spatial Forms was opened in Elbląg (Poland), where Więcek created the sculpture Detachment. During the 2nd Biennale of Spatial Forms in Elbląg in 1967, the artist realized the work Composition. In 1967, Magdalena Więcek participated in the symposium Aalborg Spatial Forms (Denmark).

In the years 1966-1982, Więcek ran a sculpture studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań (Poland). At the turn of 1983/1984, she taught classes as a guest professor at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten’s Gravenhage in the Netherlands. In 1986 and in the following years, she traveled to New York for several months. From 1988 she created and exhibited in Germany, from 1995 she had a studio in Berlin. In 2000, the artist started working again in Warsaw.

Magdalena Więcek is the winner of several awards and distinctions in Poland and abroad, including a grand prize at the Grand Prix Internazionale de la Contemporanea d’Art Principauté de Monaco.

Więcek’s outdoors can be seen in Poland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Her works are in the collection of the Museum of Art in Łódź, the
Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo (Netherlands), the National Museum in Warsaw (Poland), the National Museum in Poznań (Poland), the Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko (Poland), and in many private collections in Poland and abroad.

Over more than half a century of artistic work, Magdalena Więcek’s work has undergone a significant metamorphosis: from realistic sculptures made in plaster and concrete, through amorphous structures derived from the natural environment, to abstract compositions and shapes. She was a searching artist, experimenting with form and material.

Solo exhibitions:

  1. Magdalena Więcek, Marian Bogusz, Stefan Gierowski. Krzywe Koło Gallery, Warsaw 13.12.1958 – 01.1959
  2. Magdalena Więcek. Krzywe Koło Gallery, Warsaw 24.06 – 03.07.1960
  3. Confrontatie 3, Pinkegalerijn, Giessenburg, Netherlands 10 – 31.12.1963
  4. Magdalena Więcek. Sculpture and drawing. Współczesna Gallery at Warsaw 09.02 – 02.06.1968
  5. Magdalena Więcek. Sculpture. Stefan Gierowski. Painting. Sculpture, Light, Color.
    Współczesna Gallery at Warsaw 12.02 – 08.03.1970
  6. Magdalena Więcek. Sculptures and drawings. The National Museum in Poznań 27.02 – 06.1974
  7. Magdalena Więcek, Städtische Theater, Dortmund, Germany 02 – 15.06.1975
  8. Magdalena Więcek. Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw 13.06 – 07.1977
  9. Magdalena Więcek. Sculpture. Stefan Gierowski. Painting. Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw
    30.01 – 12.02.1978
  10. Magdalena Więcek. Sculpture. Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw 07.02 – 06.1979
  11. Magdalena Więcek. Sculptures. Singer Museum, Laren, Holand 08.03 – 13.04.1986
  12. Magdalena Więcek. Compositions (Retrovision of my stones), Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw 05.10 – 11.1987
  13. Kreuzdarstellungen. Der Weg Jesu in Bildern von Magdalena Więcek, Evangelische Kirchengemeinde, Offenbach am Main-Bieber, Germany 12.04 – 10.06.1990
  14. Sculptur, Photographie, Kunst, Galerie im Kreishaus, Hofheim am Taunus, Germany 12.03 – 03.04.1992
  15. Sculpture. Magdalena Więcek. The Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko 25.09 – 10.1993
  16. Magdalena Więcek. Sculpture and drawing. Kordegarda Gallery, Warsaw 30.10 – 24.11.2007
  18. Magdalena Więcek. Retrospective. The Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko 16.11.2013 – 5.01.2014
  19. Magdalena Więcek. Affecting the eye. Zachęta – The National Gallery of Art, Warsaw 16.02 – 13.04.2016
  20. The unveiling of a granite sculpture by Magdalena Więcek (1924-2008) entitled “Horizons – park sculpture”. Exhibition of drawings. The Xawery Dunikowski Museum Department of the National Museum in Warsaw 18.11.2017
  21. Magdalena Więcek – Glin. Sculptures and works on paper. Olszewski Gallery. The exhibition as part of the Warsaw Gallery Weekend 20.09-20.11.2019

Selected collective exhibitions:

  1. The National Exhibition of Young Visual Arts “Against the war – against fascism”. Arsenal, Warsaw 21.07 – 15.09.1955
  2. Moderna Poljska Umetnost, izložba slikarstva i skulpture. Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Skopje 22.03 – 07.1957
  3. Sculpture in the garden, a garden of the Zamoyski Palace, SARP, Warsaw 18.09 – 02.10.1957
  4. II Exhibition of Modern Art, CBWA Zachęta, Warsaw 19.10 – 17.11.1957
  5. Premiere Biennale de Paris, Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France 02.10 – 25.10.1959
  6. Pologne 50 ans de peinture, Musee d’Art et d’Historie, Geneva, Switzerland 24.10 – 29.11.1959
  7. Confrontations 1960, painting, sculpture. Krzywe Koło Gallery, Warsaw 07.09 – 10.1960
  8. Symposion Europäische Bildhauer, St. Margarethen, Austria 1963 – 1964
  9. Grand Prix Internazionale de la Contemporanea d’Art Principaute de Monaco 17.11 – 02.12.1964
  10. Profile IV. Polnische Kunst heute, Städtische Kunstgalerie, Bochum, Germany 08.11.1964 – 17.01.1965
  11. The 1st Biennale of Spatial Forms, Elbląg 23.07 – 09.1965
  12. Image, vision, imagination. Współczesna Gallery at Warsaw 11.1965 – 01.1966
  13. III Exposition Internationale de sculpture Contemporaine, Musee Rodin, Paris, France 1966
  14. The 9th Biennale Middelheim Antwerpen, Kunsthistorische Musea, Openluchtmuseum voor Beeldhouwkunst Middelheim, Antwerp, Belgium 10.06 – 01.10.1967
  15. The 2nd Biennale of Spatial Forms, Elbląg 08.07 – 10.1967
  16. The Aalbork spatial forms. Aalborg, Denmark 09 – 11.1967
  17. III Golden Grape Exhibition, BWA, Zielona Góra 04.09 – 30.10.1967
  18. Implementation and proposals. Marian Bogusz, Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz, Bronisław Kierzkowski, Magdalena Więcek. Zachęta – The National Gallery of Art, Warsaw 30.04 – 19.05.1968
  19. 11 Polnische Bildhauer in der Gruga, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany 20.04 – 09.1970
  20. The Route National Museum – Zalew Zegrzyński. An exhibition of artistic designs made by a group of artists from Poland and Czechoslovakia. The National Museum in Warsaw 21.06 – 08.07.1971
  21. The Spatial Forms Symposium Ustka 72, Ustka 12.06 – 26.06.1971
  22. Deutsch – Polnische Ausstellung II, Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal – Barmen, Germany 21.10 – 26.11.1972
  23. Sculptors for the route next to the Vistula, CBWA Zachęta, Warsaw 05.05 – 27.05.1973
  24. 1960 – Confrontations – 1975. Marian Bogusz, Tadeusz Brzozowski, Tadeusz Dominik, Stefan Gierowski, Bronislaw Kierzkowski, Jerzy Nowosielski, Alina Szapocznikow, Alina Ślesińska, Jan Tarasin, Jerzy Tchórzewski, Magdalena Więcek, Rajmund Ziemski. Zapiecek Gallery, Warsaw 08.09 – 10.1975
  25. The 14th Biennale Middelheim Antwerpen, Kunsthistorische Musea, Openluchtmuseum voor Beeldhouwkunst Middelheim, Antwerp, Belgium
    26.06 – 02.10.1977
  26. Polsk skulptur, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark 11.1977
  27. Escultura Polaca Contemporanea, Palacio de Velazquez, Parque del Retiro, Madrid Spain 1978 – 1979
  28. Sculptures Polonaises Contemporaines, Musee d’Art moderne da la Ville de Paris, Paris, France 23.01 – 04.03.1980
  29. The 13th Biennale Internazionale del Bronzetto Piccola Scultura, Musei Civici agli eremitani, Padua, Italy 11.1981 – 01.1982
  30. The Krzywe Koło Gallery. The National Museum in Warsaw 07 – 09.1990
  31. Gruppe rbk, Wuppertal. 38 Künstler aus 6 Ländern. Malerei, Graphik, Skulptur, Photographie, Kunst, Handwerk, Galerie der Stadtsparkasse, Schwerte, Germany 10.06 – 02.08.1991
  32. The Thaw. The Art around 1956. The National Museum in Poznań 06 – 08.1996
  33. Hofheimer Gruppe. Bilder und Sculpturen Neue Arbeiten, Galerie im Kreishaus, Hofheim am Taurus, Germany 29.11 27.12.2001
  34. The Krzywe Koło Gallery (1956-1965). Works on paper. The Centre for Contemporary Art Elektrownia, Radom 6.11 – 30.12.2015
  35. Museum – Zegrze Reservoir Route. Arena for Modern Art. The National Museum in Warsaw 3.09 – 18.10.2015
  36. The Other Trans-Atlantic. Kinetic and Op Art in Eastern Europe and Latin America 1950s-1970s. The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw 17.11.2017 – 11.02.2018 The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moskow 17.03.2018 – 9.05.2018 SESC Sao Paulo 25.07.2018 – 30.09.2018
  37. Power of Nature – Henry Moore in Poland. The Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko 21.04 – 9.09.2018 The National Museum in Warsaw 29.09.2018 – 23.01.2019 The National Museum in Wrocław 21.02.2019 – 30.06.2019
  38. PAS DE DEUX. Christine König Galerie. Wien, Austria 22.11.2018 – 11.01.2019
  39. Object – Space. Exhibition Celebrating the Centenary of the University of Arts in Poznań. The National Museum in Poznań 8.09-29.10.2019
  40. Dimensions of reality: Female minimal. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. Paris, France 23.02 – 20.06.2020
  41. The Penumbral Age. Art in the Time of Planetary Change. The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw 5.06-13.09.2020
  42. Female minimal: Abstraction in the expanded field. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. London, UK 30.10 – 18.12.2020
  43. Confrontations and Arguments. Modern art according to the assumptions of the Krzywe Koło Gallery. Stefan Gierowski Foundation, Warsaw 21.03 – 20.06.2021
  44. Więcek x Gierowski. Olszewski Gallery. Warsaw 01.12 – 31.01.2023