Guided Tour of the Szapocznikow Exhibition, Hammer Museum, 3/23/2012

The Board of Directors of the Modjeska Club is pleased to invite you to join us at a special guided tour of the exhibition

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972

at 2:00pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310.443.7000)

About the exhibition

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972
February 5 – April 29, 2012

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972 is the first museum survey in the United States devoted to this Polish artist. The exhibition brings to light the extraordinary oeuvre of Alina Szapocznikow, one of the most significant yet lesser known sculptors of the 20th century. At the core of Szapocznikow’s art is the ephemeral condition of life and the human body. Her work oscillates between permanence and impermanence, from carvings in Carrara marble to the precarious assemblages of lips and breasts cast in polyester resin. The exhibition includes approximately 60 sculptures and 50 works on paper, as well as a poignant group of photographic works, demonstrating the tremendous range and scope of Alina Szapocznikow’s art.

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972 is organized by WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, in collaboration with the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The exhibition is curated by Elena Filipovic and Joanna Mytkowska.

This exhibition and the accompanying catalogue are generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Hammer Museum’s presentation is made possible through major gifts from Erika Glazer and Alice and Nahum Lainer. Generous support is also provided by Herta and Paul Amir. The exhibition is made possible by additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rosette V. Delug, Alisa and Kevin Ratner, The Audrey & Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, and the Consulate General of Poland, Los Angeles.

About the Event

A special tour of the exhibition will be led by Allegra Pesenti, the coordinating curator of Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972. Pesenti joined the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the Hammer Museum in 2007, where she recently curated Rachel Whiteread Drawings (2010).

She earned her PhD in 2006 from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and has been involved in the organization of exhibitions of old master drawings at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and at the Louvre in Paris. She formerly served as Assistant Curator of Drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

This Modjeska Club event is organized by Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow Joanna Szupinska.

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Images:

Petit Dessert I (Small Dessert I), 1970-71. Colored polyester resin and glass. 3 3/16 x 4 5/16 x 5 1/8 in. (8 x 11 x 13 cm). Kravis Collection. © The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow/Piotr Stanislawski/ADAGP, Paris. Photo by Thomas Mueller, courtesy BROADWAY 1602, New York, and Galerie Gisela Capitain GmbH, Cologne. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

Allegra Pesenti. Photo by Margo Graxeda.