Kowalska, Bożena and Barbara Rybicka, design; Jan Bortkiewicz, photography.

[POLISH NEO-AVANT-GARDE – CONCEPTUALISM] Jerzy Rosołowicz, Wrocław. Wystawa - Galeria BWA (Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych).

Lubłin: BWA, 1977. Quarto (28 × 15.7 cm). Original photo-illustrated staple-stitched wrappers; [12] pp. Wrappers lightly rubbed, still about very good. Item #54608

A catalog of this November 1977 exhibition of the Polish conceptualist artist and theoretician Jerzy Rosołowicz (1928–1982), illustrated with reproductions of the artist’s work, and containing a brief bio, list of exhibitions and publications. Rosołowicz studied at the Wrocław Academy of Fine Arts in 1948–1953, becoming an active participant in the Wrocław neo-avant-garde, and was one of the co-founders of the Wrocław Group, associated with Galeria Pod Moną Lizą. Starting out with matter paintings, Rosołowicz moved on to creating a variety of conceptual machines which resembled scientific instruments, such as the Neutrodrom pictured in this catalog. The introductory essay in the catalog by the art historian Bożena Kowalska explains the functioning of the Neutrodrom: “The artist designed the construction of an inverted cone one hundred meters high, set with its tip on a concrete base. A slow-running elevator installed inside would take people up, through a phase of darkness directing them into the dazzling brightness of the space under the sky, to a mirror platform crowning the top of the building.” Some machines, such as Neutronikon pictured on the cover of the catalog, were made out of lenses and mirrors. “This object, suspended, for example, in a window overlooking the street, transmits the entire street traffic in a binocular reduction and multiplication, and both this multiplication of the image and its inversion make it unreal in a special way. The images observed in the lenses of "Neutronicon" are random and neutral in nature, in accordance with Rosołowicz's theoretical assumptions.” Rosołowicz took part in all the most important artistic events of the 1970s such as the Koszalin plein-airs in Osieki, the Biennale of Spatial Forms in Elbląg, as well as in the Wrocław '70 symposium. His early death during the Martial Law in 1982 led to his work being understudied outside of Poland.

One of 200 copies printed.

As of June 2025, KVK, OCLC show no copies of this catalog outside of Poland.

Price: €250.00

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