This beautiful book on Slovak artist, Maria Bartuszová (1936–1996) will introduce readers to the ethereal and other-worldly forms that dominate her oeuvre as well as exploring her influence in a broader global and political context. Discovering her talent in Prague in the ceramic studios at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Bartuszová went on to pioneer the techniques used in experimental and abstract plaster casting. Creating unique methods such as “gravistimulated” and “pneumatic” casting, Bartuszová defined the world of sculpture on her own terms. From rai drops and eggs to parts of the human body, Bartuszová was interested in biomorphology and how she could use the organic nature of casting in plaster to create simultaneously solid and delicate works. With around 100 works, many rarely exhibited before in the United Kingdom, this major retrospective will highlight the abstract sculptures and experimental methods of Bartuszová’s beautifully contorted and organic shapes and forms, with this exquisite and accessible catalog bringing her work to a wider audience. Celebrating the fragile and corporeal, the soft and the solid, this book will provide the perfect introduction to the artist followed by seminal texts to recognize the artist’s legacy of experimental and abstract sculptural works produced predominantly in the context of socialist Czechoslovakia.

Juliet Bingham is Curator, International Art, at Tate Modern. Gabriela Garlatyová is Curator of The Archive of Maria Bartuszová.
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