ISBN 978-94-9075-701-4
format: 27×20 cm
hard cover
168 pages, colour
publisher: Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
price: 25 €
buy: Webshop Van Abbemuseum

concept and editing: Magdalena Ziółkowska
authors of the texts: Charles Esche, Zbigniew Dłubak, Joanna Kordjak-Piotrowska, Andrzej Kostołowski, Andrzej Wróblewski, Magdalena Ziółkowska
translation and editorial assistance: Krzysztof Kościuczuk
calendar: Wojciech Grzybała
English copy-editing: Jane Warrilow
graphic design: Błażej Pindor

To the Margin and Back is the first international museum solo show of the Polish artist Andrzej Wróblewski that features a selection of sixty-seven works including paintings, gouaches, monotypes and woodcuts. Wróblewski’s oeuvre is an intriguing example of a struggle waged by an individual within the rapidly-developing political regime in post-World War II Eastern Europe. Beginning with an early involvement in the Polish avant-garde movement marked by his participation in the much-discussed 1st Exhibition of Modern Art, he created a series of canvases that provide an acute observation of the war-time trauma (Executions, 1949). Many of his works convey the sense of disorder, social alienation and failed expectations concerning the role of art in the new reality.

The exhibition retraces this narrative, at the same time highlighting the artist’s lifelong interest in human nature, its masks and social codes – all issues that pushed him to constantly negotiate his own position. Spread between the extremes of two artistic idioms, and bound by personal tension, To the Margin and Back is itself a journey that creates new challenges to the existent readings of Andrzej Wróblewski and proposes new vistas for international audiences.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, which – for the first time – discloses the history of Wróblewski to an international public. The volume includes two critical texts addressing his artistic practice written by art historians Andrzej Kostołowski (in 1968) and Joanna Kordjak, a historical statement by the artist and photographer Zbigniew Dłubak. An essential part of the book offers a comprehensive selection of the artist’s writings (most of which were published in Polish as press articles, ranging from critiques aimed at the system of fine art academies to comments and remarks on exhibitions), as well as private notes, short texts, film scripts and letters.

fot. Błażej Pindor