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Karol Broniatowski – Presence and Absence in Sculpture

Karol Broniatowski, exhibition in the Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin 1998.
©
Werner Zellien

From Oskar Kokoschka’s triptych “Thermopylae” (1954) all the way to Markus Lüpertz‘ “Beethoven” (2014) the monumentalisation of the human figure has been the central theme in post-war art. Whilst artists in Western and Eastern Germany were still trying to rid themselves of the shadow of the past by means of old and new myths, a Polish sculptor in Berlin succeeded in throwing a light on a more fundamental form of knowledge. In 1976 Karol Broniatowski created “Big Man”, an 18 metre high figure – it only exists as a design – only a few of whose 93 parts were realised, and are now scattered all over the world. Sculpture was turned into concept art. Broniatowski is still creating deeply innovative works of figurative sculpture: positive and negative forms, mass figures and graphic projections, imposingly present figures and the complete absence of figurative form.

Mediathek Sorted

Media library
  • ill. 1a: Newspaper Figures 1970 - Graduate exhibition, Art Academy Warsaw.
  • ill. 1b: Newspaper Figures 1970 - Graduate exhibition, Art Academy Warsaw.
  • ill. 1c: Karol Broniatowski - with newspaper figures at the Warsaw Academy, 1970.
  • ill. 2: Newspaper figures, 1975 - photographed in Warsaw (Radość).
  • ill. 3a: Newspaper Figures, 1970/71 - Biuro Wystaw Artystychnych exhibition, Lublin 1971.
  • ill. 3b: Newspaper Figures, 1970-72 - Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 1972.
  • ill. 4: Big Man, 1976 - Project Drawing.
  • ill. 5: Big Man, 1976 - Fragment 1, Newspaper and granite.
  • ill. 6: II. Presentation of Big Man, 1977 - Bronze, wooden board, 103 x 103 x 10 cm.
  • ill. 7: III. Presentation of Big Man, 1978 - Performance “Hammer game“, Dom Plastyka, Warsaw 1978.
  • ill. 8: Performance “Tool”, 1979 - Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź 1979.
  • ill. 9: Figure (can be assembled and dismantled), 1981 - Bronze, height: 42 cm.
  • ill. 10a: Self-portrait, 1981 - in twelve stages. Bronze, height 16-28 cm.
  • ill. 10b: Self-portrait, 1981 - in twelve stages. Bronze, height 25 cm.
  • ill. 11: Europa-Center competition, 1981 - Breitscheidplatz, Berlin.
  • ill. 12a: Prince Albrecht Palace competition, 1984 - Design for a future memorial site in Berlin.
  • ill. 12b: Prince Albrecht Palace competition, 1984 - Design for a future memorial site in Berlin.
  • ill. 13: Kurfürstendamm competition, 1984 - Design for a square on Kurfürstendamm/Joachimsthaler Straße, Berlin.
  • ill. 14: Römerberg sculpture project, 1983 - Competition for a large sculpture on the new Römerberg in Frankfurt.
  • ill. 15a: Fountain at Franz-Neumann-Platz, 1984 - Fountain with three bronze statues, Berlin.
  • ill. 15b: Fountain on Franz-Neumann-Platz, 1984 - Fountain in the Berlin suburb of Reinickendorf (Detail).
  • ill. 15c: Fountain on Franz-Neumann-Platz, 1984 - Fountain in the Berlin suburb of Reinickendorf (Detail).
  • ill. 16: Säulenreihe, 1989 - Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium, Berlin.
  • ill. 17a: Memorial to the Jews deported from Berlin, 1991 - Berlin-Grunewald station.
  • ill. 17b: Memorial to the Jews deported from Berlin, 1991 - Bahnhof Berlin-Grunewald (Detail).
  • ill. 17c: Memorial to the Jews deported from Berlin, 1991 - Bahnhof Berlin-Grunewald (Detail).
  • ill. 18: Striding Figure II, 1988 - Bronze, height 190 cm.
  • ill. 19: Nude II, 1988 - Bronze, height: 113 cm.
  • ill. 20: Nude III, 1988 - Bronze, height 147 cm.
  • ill. 21: Nude IV, 1988 - Bronze, height 127 cm.
  • ill. 22: Iris, 1997 - Bronze, height: 75 cm.
  • ill. 23: Group 93, 1986 - (Small striding figures) Bronze, height 23 to 30 cm.
  • ill. 24: Foot in Bendern, 1996 - Bronze, height: 515 cm.
  • ill. 25: Circle, 1997 - Gouache, 110 x 103 cm.
  • ill. 26: Four red female figures, 1998 - Gouache, 110 x 137 cm.
  • ill. 27: Exhibition 1999 - Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Zachęta, Warsaw.
  • ill. 28: 1999 exhibition - Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Zachęta, Warsaw.
  • ill. 29: 1999 exhibition - Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Zachęta, Warsaw.
  • Karol Broniatowski - Memorial to the Jews deported from Berlin, 1991

    Karol Broniatowski

    Memorial to the Jews deported from Berlin, 1991

Karol Broniatowski – Presence and Absence in Sculpture
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Karol Broniatowski, exhibition in the Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin 1998.
Karol Broniatowski, exhibition in the Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin 1998.
©
Werner Zellien

If we survey his closely intertwined themes, Broniatowski’s work is remarkable, not only in the context of Polish and German sculpture but also in an international context. It reflects and interprets not only neighbouring artistic genres like Performance art, Concept art, Arte Povera, Minimal Art, photography, drawing, urban design, art in public spaces, and fundamental problems related to memorials and memory culture. But it also offers answers to basic problems of sculpture: how to design masses of people in a sculptural form; how to reproduce them in positive as well as negative forms, all the way to a complete lack of form; how to project them on surfaces; how to show the influence of antique art on the Modern; and how to make a work of art interact with the person observing it.

Axel Feuß, June 2016

 

Further reading:

Karol Broniatowski. Big Man, Exhibition catalogue published by the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin 1976

Andrzej Osęka / Wojciech Skrodzki: Polnische Bildhauerkunst der Gegenwart. German edition, Warsaw 1977

Karol Broniatowski, Exhibition catalogue published by the Deplana-Kunsthalle, Berlin 1984

Karol Broniatowski. Prace z lat 1969-1999, Exhibition catalogue published by the Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Zachęta, Warsaw 1999 (Polish/German)

Tür an Tür. Polen - Deutschland. 1000 Jahre Kunst und Geschichte, edited by Małgorzata Omilanowska, Exhibition catalogue published by the Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, Cologne 2011, pp. 612, 663

Karol Broniatowski. Gouachen, Exhibition catalogue published by the Polish Institute, Berlin 2012

Karol Broniatowski, exhibition in the Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin 1998.
©
Werner Zellien
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