Natalia Lach-Lachowicz (18 April 1937 – 12 August 2022) was a Polish artist who worked with paint, photography, drawing, performance, and video art. Sean O'Hagan, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in 2017, described her as "a neglected early-1970s Polish-born pioneer of feminist avant garde image making".

Biography

Natalia Lach-Lachowicz was born in Żywiec,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. From 1946 to 1956, Lach-Lachowicz lived in

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 ...

where she completed basic and secondary education. From 1957 to 1963 she studied at the State College of Fine Arts (nowadays Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts) in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

under the supervision of Professor S. Dawski, where she completed her MSc. In 1964 she received a Diploma of the (ZPAF). In 1970 she co-founded PERMAFO, an artists' group and gallery, with Zbigniew Dłubak and Andrzej Lachowicz. In 1971, after marrying Lachowicz, she assumed the name Natalia LL. Since 1975 she was engaged in the international feminist art movement and took part in various symposia and exhibitions. Between 2004 and 2013 she was a senior lecturer at the

University of Fine Arts in Poznań Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan Poznań (in Polish: ''Uniwersytet Artystyczny im. Magdaleny Abakanowicz w Poznaniu'') is one of the major fine-art academies in Poland. It was founded in 1919 as the State School of Decorative ...

. In 2018, the ZW Foundation was founded to preserve the works of Natalia LL as well as to provide a "place for exchanging scientific ideas and creative thoughts".

Work

Natalia LL was a conceptual artist and photographer, associated with the avant-garde scene of the 1960s in Poland. Through photography and video she deconstructed single-frame photographs and satirizes the images that were presented in advertising, television, and print in the 1970s and 1980s. Her series, ''Consumer Art'' (1972–1975), depicts close ups of women eating and biting foods like bananas, sausages, and melons. It is often read as a critique, questioning the common representation of women in

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

. She said of it ''"Feminists saw in my consumer art a perverse struggle with the cult of the phallus and with masculinity. For me it was rather the manifestation of a feeling of life and liveliness."'' After suffering from a severe illness in the late 1970s, Natalia LL began to delve into transcendental and mythological subjects, often photographing her performances. In April 2019, after an anonymous complaint, the

Polish National Museum "National Museum of Poland" is the common name for several of the country's largest and most notable museums. Poland's National Museum comprises several independent branches, each operating a number of smaller museums. The main branch is the Natio ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

removed from an exhibition works by Natalia LL,

Katarzyna Kozyra Katarzyna Kozyra (born 1963) is a Polish video artist. She studied German studies at the University of Warsaw (1985–1988). In 1993, she also graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where she studied sculpture and Hochschule für Grap ...

, and the duo formed by Karolina Wiktor and Aleksandra Kubiak. This act, which was seen as an act of censorship of feminist art, led to widespread protests; a movement termed "#bananagate."

Awards

*Silver Medal,

Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

, from the

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego) is a governmental administration office concerned with various aspects of Polish culture. It was formed on 31 October 200 ...

, Poland, 2007

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* ''Natalia LL. The Mysterious World'', Francisco Carolinum, 2021 * ''Natalia LL. Intimate Photography'', Galerie Steinek, Vienna, 2018 * ''Doing Gender'', lokal_30, Warsaw, 2013 * ''Natalia LL – Opus Magnum'', Ernst Múzeum, Budapest, 2012 * ''The Whole of the Parts'', Galeria Wangarda BWA, Wrocław, 2005 * ''Ogrody personlizmu/Gardens of Personalism'', Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw, 1998 * ''Allusive Space'', Frauenmuseum, Bonn, 1995 * ''Piramida/Pyramid'', Galeria Spojrzenia, Wrocław, 1980

Group exhibitions

*''Natalia LL, Józef Robakowski, Ewa Juszkiewicz'', gallery lokal_30 at Frieze New York City, 2016 *''Gender Check, Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe'', mumok Museum Moderner Kunst – Stiftung Ludwig Vienna & Zachęta National Gallery of Art Warsaw *''Rebelle: Art and Feminism 1969–2009,'' Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, Netherlands, 2009 *''Darkside - Photographic Desire and Sexuality Photographed'', Fotomuseum, Winterthur, 2008 *''La photographie polonaise'', Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1982 *Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil, 1979

Photo gallery

File:Natalia-ll-aksamitny-terror-1.jpg, Aksamitny terror, 1970 File:Fma-natalia-ll-postconsumerart-1975.jpg, Sztuka Postkonsumpcyjna, 1975 File:Snienie.jpg, Śnienie, 1978 File:Sztukazwirzeca-animalart-1978.jpg, Sztuka zwierzęca / Animal Art, 1978 File:Natalia-ll-erotyzm-trwogi-3.jpg, Erotyzm trwogi, 2004

Biography

Work

Awards

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Photo gallery

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading