Alina Ślesińska. Sketching in Space

Alina Ślesińska (1922–1994) was recognized in the streets of Warsaw by her beauty, a resemblance to Brigitte Bardot she cultivated, her French designer clothes and the yellow, sports Renault that she drove in the early 1960s. Meanwhile, outside Poland, the sculptor enjoyed enormous international success. Her Suggestions for Architecture appeared in Parisian art galleries beside works by Eero Saarinen and André Bloc, and Oscar Niemeyer invited her to collaborate on Brasília. To this day, rumours, myths and fabrications continue to flood the story of this remarkable woman, drowning out reliable information and objective opinions.

Exhibited at the Museum of Sculpture in Królikarnia, the segment of Alina Ślesińska’s body of work that involves spatial design and formation is fascinating on many levels. This overview of sculptural models and drawings by the artist from the period 1960–1989 sheds a new light on her way of working with space. It demonstrates that her legacy extends beyond the “eight plaster casts” for which she is remembered, and that her commitment to creativity did not cease even when her fame faded. A student of Xawery Dunikowski, Ślesińska blurred the boundary between sculpture and architecture. She proved herself as a visionary, often inciting much controversy. In one interview, she declared: “Why are houses supposed to be boxy? The sculptor should give them more individualized shapes, and impact the visions of cities. I imagine modern sculpture as an applied art. Architecture may become a functional sort of sculpture.” Her suggestions continue to exert a powerful and direct influence on her audience’s imagination. They expand designers’ horizons and undermine the modernist hierarchy of specializations. Ślesińska created spaces that connected people, opened up new perspectives and were surprisingly consistent with Zofia and Oskar Hansen’s idea of the Open Form.

Alina Ślesińska. Sketching in Space is an outcome of an ongoing exhibition research project on Polish female sculptors, conducted since 2022. The project’s main objective is to lay the foundations for a detached, fact-based, supportively critical analysis of these artists’ attitudes and work.

Curator: Alicja Gzowska

Operator of The National Museum in Warsaw

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Republic of Poland

Museum Patrons:
PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna
ORLEN