Ewa Juszkiewicz (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 September 1984 in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

) is a Polish

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. She is a graduate of the

Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk The Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk (''Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku'') was founded in 1945 in Sopot, Poland as the State Institute of Fine Arts, later renamed the State College of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. In 1954, the headquarters were moved f ...

and the

Kraków Academy of Fine Arts The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Jana Matejki w Krakowie, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Pol ...

. She is considered one of the best-known contemporary Polish artists.

Career and style

Between 2004 and 2009, she studied at the

. She is a member of the AAA Tanie Wizualki collective. Among the distinguishing features of the artist's works are surrealist female portraits inspired by classic 18th and 19th-century paintings. She is notable for masking the faces of the subjects of her portraits with locks of hair, bunches of flowers, shells or fabrics. By reinterpreting Flemish masterpieces Juszkiewicz seeks to redress historical failures in the artistic portrayal of women who were often relegated to being little more than anonymous objects of beauty. According to art critic Lucia Longhi, Juszkiewicz "dismantled these old paradigms that hid a woman’s personality and visualized a new role for them" adding that "By deconstructing the original painting, she deconstructs the conventions behind it." In 2013, she was awarded the Grand Prix at the Bielska Jesień Biennale organized by the

Galeria BWA Galeria Bielska BWA is a municipal art gallery of Bielsko-Biała, Poland, dedicated to the contemporary art. It carries out exhibition, publishing, documentary and educational activities. It is the organiser of the Painting Biennale Bielsko Autumn ...

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

, Poland, for her two portraits: ''Girl in Blue'' and ''Untitled (After Rogier van der Weyden)''. In 2014, she was included in the book ''100 Painters of Tomorrow'' published by

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, discussing the most promising young painters in the world. In 2018, she appeared in the Kompas Młodej Sztuki ranking compiled by ''

Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...

'' in partnership with a number of galleries of

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

in Poland.

Art market

In May 2022, her 2019 painting titled ''Portrait of a Lady (After Louis Leopold Boilly)'' sold for $1.56 million at an auction in the United States. All the proceeds from the sale were donated to Warsaw's

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews ( pl, Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich) is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word ''Polin'' in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a ...

. As Ana Maria Celis observes, in this work the artist tackles the problem of historical erasure of women through a singular and subversive technique. She further states that "The juxtaposition of the classical stylization with the evocative subject matter of a female sitter’s whose head is fully wrapped sparks new narratives around portrayals of

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...

and deconstructs the past to create new dialogues."

References

{{Authority control Living people 1984 births Surrealist artists Polish women painters 21st-century Polish women artists People from Gdańsk Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni

Career and style

Art market

See also

References