Maria Pinińska Bereś

Maria Pinińska-Bereś is one of the most outstanding female sculptors of the second half of the twentieth century, and the precursor of women art in Poland. Known mostly for her subtle, pink works that are very personal and ironic at the same time, she is known far less as a performer, even though this aspect of her creative output was just as important, innovative and interesting.

Maria Pinińska-Bereś performances represented the entire array of gestures characteristic of ephemeral art which was developing with so much power during the second half of the last century. In her events she combined personal and feminine threads with more universal comments on art, politics, or nature. But what they all have in common is very cosy atmosphere, clear structure and attention to particular components of the event, such as the attire or the setting. Hence, as a performer Maria Pinińska-Bereś drew on her experience of a sculptor, and items used during the events often became installations which she exhibited later.

Archive of the Maria Pinińska-Bereś and Jerzy Bereś Foundation contains photographic documentation of the artist’s performances (B&W and colour prints, slide and negative films, digital media), related manuscripts, drawings and items. Along with the digitization of subsequent fields of the archive, the on-line repository will be successively updated.