Piotr Kowalski
'Piotr Kowalski', Nicholas Krushenick
Image courtesy of Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Born in Lviv (formerly part of the Republic of Poland, now in the Ukraine) in 1927, Piotr Kowalski’s career as an artist did not begin until late in life. After World War II, Kowalski emigrated to Sweden, then France and Brazil before finally settling in the United States in 1947. He went on to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, taking courses in mathematics, architecture and physics. After working as an architect in New York from 1952 to 1957 on projects such as the UNESCO headquarters, Kowalski decided to practise sculpture. He relocated to France, but travelled often between Japan and the United States and also taught at the Ecole des Beaux–Arts in Paris.
Kowalski’s sculptural work drew upon his fascination with science and his interest in experimentation, yet was often left at the planning and theoretical stage due to the immense cost involved in its realisation. He worked with Kenneth Tyler at Gemini Ltd in 1965 on the lithographic series Project for a distance and Now explosion forming—both of which are typical of the artist’s scientific preoccupation. The subject of Now explosion forming is a sequence of equations and diagrammatic representations, while Project for a distance suggests an exploration of perspective.
Emilie Owens
Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection
Chronology
1927 Born in Lvov, Poland
1946 Emigrates to Brazil via Sweeden and France. Works with landscape architect Roberto Burle-Marx
1952 Completes architecture degree, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
1952-53 Works with I.M. Pei in New York
1953-55 Moves to Paris after invitation from Marcel Breuer to work on the UNESCO building, Paris
1955 Opens own architecture office in Paris
1958 Founds company for creating and making experimental architecture and sculpture based on surface tension
1960 Company produces first large scale prefabricated architectural sculptures in translucent polyester; has international patent for creating and producing forms issued out of elastic surfaces in tension
1961 First solo exhibition, Galerie des Beaux- Arts, Paris; wins first prize in international architecture competition for the Tunis Railway Station
1963 Receives grant by Graham Foundation in Fine Arts, Chicago. Solo exhibition, Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland
1965 Invited to first International Symposium of Sculpture, California State University, Long Beach; completes editions of “Now” explosion forming, Project for a distance, Gemini, Ltd., Los Angeles
1966 Solo exhibition, As formas novas do escultro, Sao Paolo Museum of Modern Art, Brazil; included in exhibition, European Drawings, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1968 Represents France in Venice Biennale, Italy
1969 Solo exhibition, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
1970 Solo exhibitions: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Ateneumin Taide museo, Helsinki, Finland
1971 Becomes French citizen
1972 Artist in residence, West Berlin, in German Government exchange program; participates in Documenta 5, Kassel, West Germany
1976 Consultant to Metropolitan Structures, Chicago to create to projects for Chicago; a fountain and a pyramid of light
1977 Invited to sculpture symposium, Forum Metal, in one of largest steel mills in Europe, Linz, Austria; makes monumental sculpture in heat rolled Corten steel and stainless steel, Thermocouple, changes form with ambient temperature
1978 Wins first prize, in International Competition for a monumental sculpture for the Municipal Theater in Winterthur, Switzerland
1978-85 Fellow and Artist-in-residence, Center for Advance Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
1981 Receives Grand Prix de la Sculpture. Solo exhibition, Centre Pompidou, Paris
1987 Professor, Beaux-Arts de Paris, France
1988 Receives commission for Place des Degrés, Paris
1989 Included in Artec, Nagoya, Japan
1991 Solo exhibition, Kowalski á la défense, Espace Art Défence, Galerie Art 4, Paris
1992 Solo exhibition, L’Axe de la Terre, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Noiseil, France
1993 Solo exhibition, Mito Art Tower, Japan
1994 Solo exhibition, Piotr Kowalski Livres et mots, La Box, Bourges, France; included in exhibition, Europa-Europa, Kunst-und Ausstellungsahlle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
2004 Piotr Kowalski died in Paris, France
Kate Buckingham, 2007
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.
Further Reading
NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS
- Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
STORIES
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