The exhibition “Maria Pinińska-Bereś” will be on display at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig from 8 November 2024. It will be the first comprehensive solo exhibition of one of the most extraordinary personalities of 20th-century Polish art organised in Germany. A wide selection of works, including most important sculptures and photographic documentation of performances, will be available until 23 February 2025. This is one of the events showcasing Polish contemporary art in Germany, supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Maria Pinińska-Bereś – A Pioneer of Feminist Art in Poland
Maria Pinińska-Bereś (1931-1999), now being rediscovered, is recognised as a pioneer of feminist art in Poland, alongside Natalia LL and Ewa Partum. Her work invites constant discovery and reinterpretation, yet one thing remains unchanged: for her, art was synonymous with freedom. Raised during World War II in a deeply conservative, ultra-Catholic family and educated in an academy “saturated with a conservative vision of art”, she faced enormous pressure and restrictions that limited her freedom of thought and creative expression.
Maria Pinińska-Bereś, "Landscape Annexation", 1980, from the family archives © The Maria Pinińska-Bereś and Jerzy Bereś Foundation und and The Approach, London
The Artist opposed structural violence from the state and from the church and challenged the art industry. Her sculptural works from the 1950s were in line with modernist traditions; however, her later art incorporated influences from the neo-avant-garde movement. She replaced items made of cement and metal with everyday materials such as papier-mâché or wood, and ordinary items such as quilts or aprons. In the 1960s, biomorphic forms started to increasingly appear in her works. She enhanced their feminine look with pink colour, which has become her trademark. By appropriating the colour pink – viewed as a tool for preparing girls for their roles in a patriarchal society – Pinińska-Bereś criticised the politics of gender roles and alluded to her own traumatic experiences.
Exhibition “Maria Pinińska-Bereś” in Leipzig, Germany
In November 2024, for the first time in Germany, an international audience will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the works of Maria Pinińska-Bereś – her explorations of femininity and female eroticism, their socio-political entanglements, and her perspective on the relationship with the natural world. The exhibition will also interfere with art history in two ways: by questioning the widespread focus on male artists and pointing out that the Western perspective overlooks the diverse and multifaceted art scene of 20th-century Eastern Europe.
The exhibition “Maria Pinińska-Bereś” will be on display at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig between 8 November 2024 and 23 February 2025. Visitors to the comprehensive solo exhibition of one of the most extraordinary personalities in Polish 20th-century art will have the opportunity to view a wide selection of works created from the early 1960s to the end of the last century, including most important sculptures and photographic documentation of performances. The selection was made by the curatorial team of Heike Munder and Jarosław Suchan.
This is one of the events showcasing Polish contemporary art in Germany, supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. We invite you to join us!
Collaboration: National Museum in Wroclaw, Kunstmuseum Den Haag
Partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony (Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen)