Collection

  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Bartosz Stawiarski
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Bartosz Stawiarski
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Bartosz Stawiarski
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Bartosz Stawiarski
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Bartosz Stawiarski
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Monument Service
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Monument Service
  • Paweł Althamer, Barge-Haulers, 2012

    photo Bartosz Stawiarski

Barge-Haulers is a piece inspired by the Museum’s own current situation—a constant struggle to build its own building in order to consummate its existence and secure a place for contemporary culture in society. Althamer alludes to the well-known painting Barge-Haulers on the Volga (1873) by Ilya Repin, one of the first Russian realists to couple realistic representations with an affinity for the common people. Paweł Althamer’s sculpture, made using the artist’s own special technique, contains the figures of the first eleven members of the Museum team (recognisable from plaster-casts of their faces), who—like barge-haulers—are straining as if there were no tomorrow, as they drag a model of the Museum that will be built one day. This group of sculptures is a unique part of the Museum collection. Not only does it document a heroic period of the institution’s existence, expressing support for efforts to create a museum of modern art in Warsaw, but it also reveals the artist’s strong convictions about the social role of art.

Year: 2012
Medium: plastic strips on metal construction
Format: 170×150×1000 cm

Acquisition: purchase
Ownership form: collection
Source: Paweł Althamer
Index: MSN: 4300-45/2012
Acquisition date:
Financing source: Purchased with the support of Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

See also

Other Works From That Artist