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- Author Alina Szapocznikow
- Date of production 1972
- Place of creation Paris, France
- Dimensions height: 55 cm, width: 55 cm
- ID no. MNK-II-rz-1673
- Museum The National Museum in Kraków
- Availability in stock
- Subjects sculpted, famous people , body, death
- Material metal, polyester
- Acquired date purchased from the artist’s son, Piotr Stanisławski in 1998
- Object copyright The National Museum in Kraków
- Digital images copyright © all rights reserved, NMK
- Digitalisation NMK, iMNK project
- Tags sculpture , modern art , death , 2D , body , disease , © all rights reserved
Body casts appeared in works by Alina Szapocznikow in 1965, when she began to present her own fingers and mouth in sculptural material. In 1971, she made of polyester the crushed Autoportret–Zielnik [Self-Portrait — Herbarium], regarded as an introduction to Zielnik [Herbarium] — one of her most important works made on the basis of body casts.
more Body casts appeared in works by Alina Szapocznikow in 1965, when she began to present her own fingers and mouth in sculptural material. In 1971, she made of polyester the crushed Autoportret–Zielnik [Self-Portrait — Herbarium], regarded as an introduction to Zielnik [Herbarium] — one of her most important works made on the basis of body casts. However, in the Herbarium created in the spring of 1972, the artist did not present herself but the body of her son, Peter (Piotr in Polish). The cycle encompasses both full-figure nudes of the boy sculpted in clay as well as polyester casts made of plaster impressions taken directly from his body. From these forms, the sheets of the Herbarium — polyester casts of the fragments of Peter’s body, crushed and affixed to boards painted in black – were created. These include deformed representations of her son’s head (Głowa Piotra — Zielnik. Szkic, Zielnik I, Zielnik II, Zielnik V, Zielnik VI, Zielnik VIII, Zielnik XII [Głowa Chrystusa], Zielnik XIV [Peter’s Head — Herbarium. Sketch, Herbarium I, Herbarium II, Herbarium V, Herbarium VI, Herbarium VIII, Herbarium XII {Christ’s Head}, Herbarium XIV]).
Szapocznikow created these works in the period when she already knew that she had cancer. Aware of the impending death, she preserved the healthy body of the boy – her adopted son – instead of her own, which was overcome by her illness. Peter’s Head is thus a kind of a trace; it is a peculiar, moving projection of the future, expressing hope for further existence.
Elaborated by Dominik Kuryłek (The National Museum in Kraków), © all rights reserved
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