Centre Pompidou to Show Alina Szapocznikow's Graphic Works from Paris Years

Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973), a Polish sculptor rediscovered in the West after a 2011 Wiels retrospective, is the subject of a new exhibition at the Centre Pompidou starting February 27, focusing on her graphic works from 1960-1968. A survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, she transformed trauma into art using her own body as matrix, creating moulages, tumor-like forms, and provocative assemblages. Her work, which intersects Surrealism, Nouveau Réalisme, Pop art, and Body art, was largely unknown to Western contemporaries like Paul Thek and Eva Hesse due to the Iron Curtain. Key series include "Seins" (1966), "Tumeurs" (1969), and "Herbiers" (1971). She represented Poland at the 1962 Venice Biennale and was close to Pierre Restany and the Panique group. The exhibition follows a traveling monographic show organized by Wiels, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and MoMA, which toured the Hammer Museum and Wexner Art Center.