The book Wacław Szpakowski 1883–1973. Rhythmic lines is dedicated to the work of Wacław Szpakowski – an artist who is widely unknown in Poland, but highly valued in the circle of specialists in the art of the 20th century. His drawings were considered pioneering for abstract art. Wacław Szpakowski lived in Wrocław for the last 28 years of his life, but his works were appreciated and exhibited only after his death, in the late 1970s. New York’s Museum of Modern Art at the turn of 2012 and 2013, which determines their rank as important for the world’s contemporary art.

The publication contains reproductions of the artist’s works, two of his own texts (including one hitherto unknown) and analyzes of his work conducted by seven researchers of contemporary art – Polish and foreign. They capture his works from different perspectives, complementing each other. Szpakowski’s drawings require an interdisciplinary approach, as their highly original aesthetics places them at the intersection of visual arts, music and science (mathematics).

The analyzes begin with a summary of the current knowledge about Szpakowski’s work, i.e. a text by Janusz Zagrodzki, Description of the World, from 1998; the remaining essays were written specifically for our book. Their authors are: Serge Salat from France (Wacław Szpakowski and the original point – the work of a Polish artist against the background of the tradition of European art), Masha Chlenova from the USA (Motivating the line. Wacław Szpakowski as a modernist), Grzegorz Sztabiński (The line walker. Wacław Szpakowski’s work against the background geometric abstraction in the art of the 20th century), Maciej H. Zdanowicz (Paintings-scores by Wacław Szpakowski. The musical aspect of “Rhythmic Lines”), Jacek Świątkowski (Theoretician of the dynamics of shapes? Mathematical accents in the works of Wacław Szpakowski) and Elżbieta Łubowicz (New line of art. Other abstraction in the drawings of Wacław Szpakowski).

An extensive part of the book is a beautiful essay about the life and work of the artist, written by his daughter, Anna Szpakowska-Kujawska, a well-known painter from Wrocław, and illustrated with photographs from the family archive. This text allows us to get to know the fascinating personality of this modest artist, hiding behind his drawings during his lifetime, which he gave the form of impersonal “temporal paintings”.

It is only today, after the dissemination of conceptual principles of art in the second half of the 20th century, that Szpakowski’s work has a chance to be understood by a wider audience. It also reveals its huge potential related to the development of technical media, which is quickly discovered by young artists in the fields of art, music and science.

The publication was published by the Center for Culture and Art in Wrocław as part of the program of the Lower Silesian Artistic Festival in two separate language versions: Polish and English.

The book is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the Self-Government of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Editor:
Elizabeth Lubowicz

Editorial cooperation:
Bronislaw Kowalewski
Marta Przetakiewicz

Design:
Monika Aleksandrowicz

Waclaw Szpakowski 1883–1973. Rhythmic lines

ISBN: 978-83-62290-18-5

Waclaw Szpakowski 1883–1973. Rhythmical Lines

ISBN: 978-83-62290-22-2

Publisher:
Center of Culture and Art in Wrocław
Institution of Culture of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Self-Government

Year of publication: 2015

Format: 30.7 x 21.8 cm, number of pages: 352, cover: hardcover with dust jacket.

PRAWA AUTORSKIE ZASTRZEŻONE – COPYWRIGHTS RESERVED