Karol Broniatowski

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Broniatowski and one of the great striders

Karol Broniatowski (born April 23, 1945 in Łódź ) is a Polish sculptor who lives and works in Berlin .

Playing with the figure is at the center of his work. The striding figure has been the subject of sculpture since the Kouroi of antiquity and the statues in Egypt . Broniatowski responds to this tradition of stone and bronze with striding figures made of newspaper. He creates life-size male and female nudes from newspapers and arranges them in different environments. He puts them together in groups and lets them run down through rooms from the ceiling.

Works and exhibitions

From 1964 he studied sculpture at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 1970 as a master student of Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz.

From 1969 to 1974, more than 50 figures were created in three groups. They always follow the same type: the naked men step out, the female figures stand still or float, their arms crossed over their heads.

In 1972 Karol Broniatowski represented Poland at the XXXVI with these “newspaper figures ” . Venice Biennale . They were exhibited at the Biennale in São Paulo , Philadelphia, Philadelphia Bourse , Paris, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Kunstverein Mannheim , in galleries in New York, Antwerp, Ghent and in Brussels, Bozar.

In 1976 Broniatowski began the cycle “Big Man” in Berlin as part of the DAAD artist grant. He projected the striding man out of newspaper into a silhouette of 18.8 m and divided it. By chance, 93 parts were created. Each was recreated from stacks of newspaper and granite. The segments ended up in different locations and collections. The gigantic figure only comes together in the mind of the beholder.

In 1977 Big Man was transformed again: "Object 93 - The Second Presentation of Big Man" . 93 eggs made of polished bronze lie on a plate and mirror each other.

In 1978 "Stukowisko - The Third Presentation of Big Man" followed . Broniatowski sent 93 knocking signals into the ether via Morse code.

In 1979 Broniatowski presented the "Head Made of Sand" in Łódź, Museum Sztuki . Little by little he removed all parts of an initially closed plaster mold. A head of sand slowly appeared. When it was fully visible, it fell apart.

In 1981 Broniatowski showed “sculptures that can be assembled and dismantled” . The artist's bronze self-portrait only found its final form in layers, as “many heads in one head” .

In 1985 the project "Little Striders" began . Broniatowski formed 93 bronze figures, each about 25 cm high. Everyone is stepping forward with the left leg. They are different and can be put together alone or in formations.

Broniatowski participates in a number of competitions for monuments and designs sculptures in public spaces. His most important monument in 1991 is the “ Memorial for the deported Jews of Berlin at the Grunewald train station ” . Broniatowski lets hollow forms of human figures into the 20 m long concrete block and makes their loss visible as shadows.

In 1996 Broniatowski carried out the “Foot of Bendern ” for LGT Bank in Liechtenstein . The 5.15 m high bronze sculpture is a fragment of a foot. The open form is the visible part of an invisible giant.

Broniatowski's oeuvre includes a large number of bronze sculptures. The striding male figure is always an issue. There are standing women in various dimensions and large nudes.

The sculptor is continuously expanding his graphic work. The large-format gouaches created as monotypes are a separate complex . Since the late 1980s, these pictures have shown black and red figures that are "thrown" onto white sheets of paper.

  • Works (selection)

  • Newsprint figure, 1971

  • Newsprint Figures Men, 1973

  • Newsprint Figures Women, 1973

  • Fragment Big Man 1, 1976

  • Stukowisko - The Third Presentation of Big Man, 1978

  • Head made of sand, 1979

  • Little Strider, 1985

  • Fountain in Berlin-Reinickendorf , 1985

  • Memorial for the deported Jews of Berlin at the Grunewald train station from 1991

  • Foot from Bendern , clay model , 1996

  • Little strider

  • Standing woman

  • Standing woman

  • Gouache with figures in red

  • Gouache with figures in black

  • Zierbrunnen, Berlin, Huguenot Square

  • Colonnades in Berlin-Britz , 1992

Collections

Karol Broniatowski's works are in private collections in Berlin, Cologne, Bochum, Hanover, Warsaw, Paris, Gstaad, Vaduz, Gent, Antwerp, Philadelphia, New York.

Public collections:

Realizations in public space:

Fountain on Franz-Neumann-Platz, Berlin-Reinickendorf , 1984; Row of columns for Albert Einstein School, Berlin 1989; Memorial for deported Jews from Berlin, Grunewald train station, Berlin 1991; Sculptures in the courtyard of the Rudolf Virchow Clinic , Berlin-Wedding , 1994; Fuß von Bendern, LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, Bendern 1996; Fountain on Hugenottenplatz, Berlin-French Buchholz , 1998

Bibliography (selection)

  • Karol Broniatowski . Zagrozenie, Galeria Wspolczesna, Warszawa 1970.
  • Karol Broniatowski . Big Man, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin 1976.
  • Karol Broniatowski . Prace z lat 1970-1979, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź 1979.
  • Karol Broniatowski . Deplana Kunsthalle, Berlin 1984. W kręgu pracowni Jarnuszkiewicza, Muzeum Akademi Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie, Warszawa 1986
  • "Foot of Bendern" . LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, 1996 (article by Uwe Wieczorek) Karol Broniatowski.
  • Prace z lat 1969-1999 , Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Zachęta, Warszawa 1999.
  • Works from the Hilti art foundation. From Paul Gauguin to Imi Knoebel , Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, exh. u. Cat., Uwe Wieczorek, Bern 2005, ISBN 978-3-7165-1382-8

Web links

Commons : Karol Broniatowski  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Broniatowski, Karol
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Łódź