Today’s Google Doodle is celebrating what would have been the 93rd birthday of Polish sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz, who pioneered a new category of art textile sculptures of the human figure known as Abakans.
Magdalena Abakanowicz was born on June 20, 1930, in Poland. She witnessed World War II which according to her, affected her psyche and made her grow up at a young age.
After the war ended, Abakanowicz started studying at the secondary school for plastic arts in Gdynia in 1948 and later graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1954.
She developed a soft sculpture that turned fabric into three dimensions which hung from the ceiling and were called Abakans based on the last name of its creator.
“Is it a tapestry or a sculpture? Magdalena Abakanowicz’s figures of woven fibre broke the mold when she pioneered a new category of art known as Abakans.”
“Today’s Doodle celebrates the Polish sculptor and multi-element artist”, Google wrote on Tuesday.
Her artwork merited her the top prize at the 1965 São Paulo International Art Biennale. She would later win many other awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center in New Jersey, the Award for Distinction in Sculpture from the Sculpture Center in New York, and the Commander Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta in Poland.
Magdalena Abakanowicz holds dear the “sociological phenomenon of the crowd”, which states that an individual loses his or her individuality in the crowd. She considers it as one of the most important statements about humanity. The inscription can be seen in Chicago’s Grant Park.
Many museums and exhibitions across the world have showcased Abakanowicz’s work.