Galeria Joan Gaspar

MITORAJ Igor

IGOR MITORAJ (Oederan, Germany 1944 - Paris, France 2014)

After II World War Igor came back to Poland, his mother’s homeland. At 19 years old he started to study painting at Cracow Academy of Art, where he received a classically based education with Tadeus Kantor. In 1960’s he dedicated himself basically to the painting, in 1967 he participated in a collective exhibition in Cracow.

In 1968 he moved to Paris to continue studying at the National School of Fine Arts. In the beginning of 1970’s Mitoraj was interested in the Ancient South American culture, which influenced his art. He travelled to Mexico and then he decided to pay more attention to the sculpture. In 1974 he came back to Paris and in 1976 he had his first individual exhibition in the Parisian gallery “La Hune” with great success. From that moment he worked exclusively with sculpture.

He travelled to Italy where he discovered the marble as an element for his sculptures. In 1983 he set up his workshop in Pietrasanta (Toscana). Since then and until his death he divided his activity between Italy and France.

The classic style of his sculptures is viewed with the eyes of a modern artist who tried to express himself with a rich perspective, a magical vision, surreal, fantastic and even traumatic. In his works, oneself can appreciate an exquisite treatment of the sculptural material, sensuality of the shapes, metaphorical surfaces with torture wrinkled condition, care for the patina and the light. Outstanding for their monumentality and magnificence, they are very appreciated for open air public exhibitions.

He had important individual public exhibitions in France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, USA etc. His sculpture we can find in prestigious museums of Japan (Hakone Museum, The Tokio Sogo Bank), France (KPGM la Defense), England (British Museum), Italy (Uffici Museum, The Scala Theatre), USA (The Rozenkranz Foundation) etc.

For the first time in history, the work of a contemporary artist was exhibited within the Ruins of Pompeii. 30 monumental sculptures by Igor Mitoraj where presented magically with these great archaeological remains in 2016-2017.