Magdalena WiÃÂcekÃÂ (July 23, 1924 in Katowice, Poland - December 31, 2008 in Dahab, Egypt) was a Polish sculptor and art teacher.
Magdalena Wiecek was born in Katowice, a daughter of Karol, a steel worker and Gertruda, a seamstress. In 1945, she moved to a coastal town Sopot to study painting at The State School of Visual Arts, where she met her future husband, Marian Wnuk. In 1949, WiÃÂcek moved to Warsaw to study sculpture at The Academy of Fine Arts under professors Marian Wnuk and Franciszek Strynkiewicz. She graduated in 1952 and debuted the same year with a socialist-realist sculpture entitledàMinersàat the National Exhibit of Fine Arts in ZachÃÂta. In 1955, WiÃÂcek married Marian Wnuk and gave birth to her only child, Daniel Wnuk. At the time Wiecek worked out of her studio in the post industrial and old Jewish neighborhood Wola, at Zelazna Street. In the early 1950s, WiÃÂcek began her life time engagement with artist residences at steel mills, stone quarries and studio visits; and, collaborations with various architects and designers. She exhibited internationally. She traveled and maintained professional relationships with artists from France, Germany, the Netherlands, England, Belgium, and Austria. She was a member of theàAssociation of Polish Artists and Designersàand Association Internationale des Arts Plastiques. In 1966 WiÃÂcek started a teaching position at the State School of Fine Arts in Poznaà Â, where she continued teaching art for sixteen years. In 1983-1984 she was a visiting professor at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende KunstenâÂÂs Gravenhage in the Netherlands. In the late 1980s, she traveled to New York and worked out of her Brooklyn studio. Between 1994 and 2000 she lived and worked in Berlin. She was artistically close to the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Oroà Âsko, where she produced and exhibited many of her works. She won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Internazionale de la Contemporanea dâ Art Principauté de Monaco. Her works can be seen at the National Museum in Warsaw, Museum of Art in à Âódà º, National Museum in Poznaà  andàKröller-Müller MuseumàinàOtterlo. She died in 2008 during a family vacation in Egypt. She was married to Marian Wnuk, sculptor and President of The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
Magdalena WiÃÂcekâÂÂs creative beginnings coincided with the socialist-realist period, which determined themes and forms created by artists. First known artworks of WiÃÂcek were figurative sculptures made of plaster and stone âÂÂàMinersà(1953) and theàPolish-Soviet Friendship Memorial / Youthà(1954). They were massive and heavy and their dynamic texture resembled the opus of Xawery Dunikowski. In 1955, WiÃÂcek took part inàAgainst War, Against Fascism exhibition at Arsenal Gallery. The new, expressive style was presented in her award-winning workàThe Mother, showing a naked, kneeling woman with a child by her knees and her right arm raised in a gesture of protest.
In the late 1950s WiÃÂcek became well acquainted with artists and intellectuals frequenting theààKrzywe Koà ÂoàClub in Warsaw. In 1958, an exhibition featuring works by Magdalena WiÃÂcek, Stefan Gierowski and Marian Bogusz (with whom the artist would later collaborate on multiple occasions) took place at the Krzywe Koà Âo Gallery. WiÃÂcekâÂÂs deformed sculptures were on display there, which was a milestone in her creative development.
By the end of the 1950s, the artist experimented with concrete and created organic forms, which were abstract but also reminiscent of deformed body parts or prehistoric, primitive obelisks. They were coherent with the avant-garde of the time. At the break of the 1950s and 1960s,ÃÂ FloraleÃÂ andÃÂ Close to the EarthÃÂ were created. Their organic forms levitated above the ground on cast-iron rods, losing their massiveness and connection with the basis. In 1963, WiÃÂcek was invited by Karl Prant to a symposium in St. Margarethen, Austria, for which she created a large-scale sculpture made of almost completely rough blocks of stone.
In 1965 and 1967 WiÃÂcek engaged in work around Biennale of Spatial Forms in Elblàg with Gerard Kwiatkowski and Marian Bogusz. During the first Biennale, the artist created a large-scale abstract form titledàDisconnection â Structure. The dynamic form of the sculpture created an impression as if disconnected elements were revolving in the air around the construction, attracted by its centrifugal force. For the next edition, WiÃÂcek preparedàUpward Flight â Spatial Composition, in whichàthe geometry of a flying ball was studied, with two spherical forms hanged on metalàscaffolding.
That interest in movement and flight continued to express itself in the series of small brass sculptures calledÃÂ Volatile, which were created around 1970. They were built of spherical forms, circles, disks, and hemispheres, which evoked associations with cosmos and microchemistry[6].
After Biennale of Spatial Forms, in the 1970s, WiÃÂcek created many large, abstract outdoor sculptures, often corresponding with the surrounding architecture. For example, the unrealized project of sculpture within the Warsaw Eastern Wall (designed by Zbigniew Karpià Âski). TheàVolatileàsculpture in Aalborg, Denmark, andàBloom, both from 1976, are outdoor sculptures made with metal elements welded into a light, dynamic structure. It refers to the work of American sculptor Richard Serra.
Another breakthrough in WiÃÂcekâÂÂs artistic work was marked by the cycle ofàDialogues with a Stone,àcreated between the late 1970s and mid-1990s. The sculptures included in this cycle were all close to organic, abstract forms, featuring mixes of colored marble and granite, ovoid shapes, smooth and haptic surfaces.
Magdalena WiÃÂcek was active in sculpture and drawing until her death. In the 1990s and after 2000, she created numerous steel reliefs, such as âÂÂRelief-BassâÂÂ. The oeuvre of Magdalena WiÃÂcek consistently shows art as an important and autonomous form of human expression. WiÃÂcek is looking for universal value through research, creation, and transformation of reality.