David Zwirner is pleased to announce an exhibition of work by Polish artist Andrzej Wróblewski (1927–1957) at the gallery’s 24 Grafton Street location in London. This is the first solo presentation of his work in the United Kingdom.
Now considered a leading figure in postwar Polish art, Wróblewski’s short but prolific career encompassed painting, works on paper, and prints. Often drawing from Poland’s sociopolitical atmosphere in the wake of the Second World War, Wróblewski’s singular practice is characterized by a unique blend of figuration and abstraction. On view is a group of key paintings and a wide-ranging selection of works on paper detailing recurring subjects throughout the artist’s oeuvre.
"In my practice, I need to preserve—and first seize—a royal generality, and all-encompassing- cognoscibility; in it I need to encompass everything, that which I have experienced, and a great deal of what I only know (from books, stories), and, finally, even more of that which I don’t know, but which has to be inside of me, because I’m a son, a Pole, an intellectual, a frequent friend, a passer-by, a consoler. However, what I need here is to take well-considered action, subjected to discipline, which would guarantee me an adequate amount of nourishment. I know that by diminishing the influx of sensations, reducing contacts, I heighten my sensitivity." —Andrzej Wróblewski, from notes written by the artist in early 1948. These notes were published in a book accompanying the major retrospective Andrzej Wróblewski: Constantly Looking Ahead at the National Museum in Kraków, 2012.
Andrzej Wroblewski
Mother with Dead Child /
Construction (on reverse)
, 1949/1948
Oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 35 1/2 inches (120 x 90 cm)
Andrzej Wroblewski
[Group Scene no. 238], n.d.
Watercolour and gouache on paper
5 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (15 x 21 cm)
Andrzej Wroblewski
[Abstract Composition in Green, Abstract Composition no. 46], n.d.