Grażyna Maria Kulczyk (Polish pronunciation: ; born 5 November 1950) is a Polish

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. In 2015, she was awarded the

Knight's Cross Knight's Cross (German language ''Ritterkreuz'') refers to a distinguishing grade or level of various orders that often denotes bravery and leadership on the battlefield. Most frequently the term Knight's Cross is used to refer to the Knight's Cro ...

of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

for her contributions to

Polish culture The culture of Poland () is the product of its Geography of Poland, geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to History of Poland, an intricate thousand-year history. Poland has a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic ma ...

and the promotion of

Polish art Art in Poland refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with Poland. Nineteenth century Polish art has often reflected European trends while maintaining its unique character. The Kraków school of history painting developed by ...

Education and career

She graduated in law and administration from the

Adam Mickiewicz University Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam si ...

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

. Upon finishing her studies, she began to work in the Civil Law Institute at her

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

. After a few years, she resigned and decided to pursue a career in business. She is a supporter of

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

, avant-garde choreography and new technology and

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

s. She is particularly engaged in supporting entrepreneurship among women as well as the equal presence of women in

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

. She joined the board of the Modern Women's Fund Committee of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York in 2015, and has been a board member of Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw for almost 10 years. In 2017,

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American art magazine, based in New York City. It covers visual arts from ancient to contemporary times. It is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. ''ARTnews'' has a readership of 180,000 in 124 co ...

magazine recognized her as one of the Top 200 Collectors in the world. Kulczyk was married to late billionaire

Jan Kulczyk Jan Jerzy Kulczyk (24 June 1950 – 29 July 2015) was a Polish billionaire businessman. He was the founder and owner of Kulczyk Holding (headquartered in Warsaw) and an international investment house Kulczyk Investments (former name: Kulczyk Inve ...

with whom she had two children, Dominika (born 1977) and Sebastian (born 1980). They divorced in 2006. In 2022, her

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

was estimated at PLN 1.9 billion (US$ 387 million) according to ''

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.Muzeum Susch, founded by Kulczyk, opened on 2 January 2019, in

Susch Susch (formally Süs) is a village and former municipality in the district of Inn in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Lavin and Susch merged into the municipality of Zernez Zernez is a village an ...

, Switzerland. It predominantly features works by renowned Polish avant-garde and contemporary artists such as Monika Sosnowska,

Magdalena Abakanowicz Magdalena Abakanowicz (; 20 June 1930 – 20 April 2017) was a Polish sculpture, sculptor and fiber artist. Known for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium and for outdoor installations, Abakanowicz has been considered among the most influen ...

Piotr Uklański Piotr Uklański (born 1968) is a Polish-American contemporary artist, director and photographer who has produced art since the mid 1990s which have explored themes of spectacle, cliché, and tropes of modern art. Many of his pieces and projects ...

, Mirosław Bałka,

Zofia Kulik Zofia Kulik (born 1947 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish artist living and working in Łomianki (Warsaw), whose art combines political criticism with a feminist perspective. Career Kulik studied at the Sculpture Department of the Warsaw Acade ...

Paulina Olowska Paulina Olowska (born 1976, Gdańsk) is a Polish painter and photographer, who also works in the field of performance and video-art, social action and applied art. The areas of her artistic explorations are modernist utopias and research on the w ...

and Joanna Rajkowska.

Art Stations Foundation / Stary Browar Nowy Taniec

Since 2004, Kulczyk's Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk has been providing support to develop contemporary

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

through its performative programme based in Poznań, under the name Stary Browar Nowy Taniec / Old Brewery New Dance. Stary Browar Nowy Taniec is located at the Stary Browar complex in Poznan.

Education and career

Art Stations Foundation / Stary Browar Nowy Taniec

See also

References

Further reading