Alina Szapocznikow: Human Landscapes

"Alina Szapocznikow: Human Landscapes" is the consummation of the retrospective exhibition at Great Britain’s Hepworth Wakefield, an institution built upon the collection of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, along with works exhibited at the smaller show at Kunsthalle Baden-Baden.

The publication designed by Ludovic Balland has been conceived as a machine of sorts used to facilitate the discovery of Szapocznikow’s oeuvre. It opens with a broad selection of archival images depicting the artist at work (also referencing the workshop of Barbara Hepworth in Wakefield). This is where the reader begins the journey through her works and this is also where the narrative of the book takes its cue. Just like Szapocznikow’s studio, the book is filled with nooks and crannies. The works on show in the exhibition (counting over 100 pieces made between 1956 and 1972, including drawings, photographs and sculptures), coupled with the archive photographs, present a broader context for her dynamic, meandering creative process.

Background texts from the exhibition’s curators, along with fresh approaches to Szapocznikow’s legacy in a new series of essays, propose an updated look at her rich, diverse and complex body of work. It also provides an informative backdrop to the continuous process for carving out a proper place for Alina Szapocznikow within the canon of 20th century art history. Authors of these texts include: Kirsty Bell, Marek Beylin, Luisa Heese, Griselda Pollock, along with exhibition curators Andrew Bonacina and Marta Dziewańska.