Zachęta – National Gallery of Art

curator: Michał Jachuła
cooperation: Katarzyna Kołodziej

Maria Anto’s exhibition at the Zachęta will be the first such extensive review of the artist’s paintings since her death in 2007. Focusing on her works in the 1960s and 1970s, it features about 60 paintings (individual and collective portraits, animal presentations, allegorical scenes and landscapes), as well as drawings and selected archival materials.

The artist’s work follows in the footsteps of the tradition of surrealism – metaphorical painting, naïve art, illustrative fantasy and fairy-tale characters – which have always been imbued with mystery and an atmosphere of uncanniness. As a professional painter, as far back as the beginning of her creative career, she consciously drew upon naïve art. She ignored current artistic tendencies as well as the principles of realistic imagery to the same degree, instead devoting herself to figurative art, combining imagination, memories, and everyday life. From today’s perspective, Maria Anto’s art from her most important and mature period seems to form an exceptionally original, separate position in art. Her paintings are an unprecedented presence on the Polish scene, and the artist created a huge collection of works, achieving an undisputed individualism as a painter.

The exhibition and accompanying publication will re-discover not only Maria Anto’s art, but also present issues in the artistic practice of this woman-painter, who successfully worked in a male-dominated environment for several decades.