English Wallpaper Border Acanthus Scroll (Arthur Sanderson & Sons) ca. 1860-70 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Border Drapery pattern (Thomas Avery Co.) ca. 1820-40 block-printed and flocked Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Border Swagged Tasseled Ropes (Thomas Avery Co.) ca. 1825-50 block-printed and flocked Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
"As for me, I produce awkward objects. This absurd and convulsive mania proves the existence of an unknown, secret gland necessary for life. Yes, this mania can be reduced to a single gesture, within the reach of us all. But this gesture is sufficient unto itself. It is the confirmation of our human presence."
"My gesture is addressed to the human body, 'that complete erogenous zone', to its most vague and ephemeral sensations. I want to exalt the ephemeral in the folds of our body, in the traces of our passage."
"Through casts of the body I try to fix the fleeting moments of life, its paradoxes and absurdity, in transparent polyester. My work is difficult, as sensation that is felt in a very immediate and diffuse way is often resistant to identification. Often everything is all mixed up, the situation is ambiguous, and sensory limits are erased."
"Despite everything, I persist in trying to fix in resin the traces of our body: I am convinced that of all the manifestations of the ephemeral the human body is the most vulnerable, the only source of all joy, all suffering, and all truth, because its essential nudity is as inevitable as it is inadmissible on any conscious level."
– Alina Szapocznikow, artist's statement originally issued in French in 1972, translated by Elise Nussbaum in Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972 (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2011)
English Wallpaper Border Inlaid (Arthur Sanderson & Sons) ca. 1840-50 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Border Ivy (Cowtan & Son) ca. 1820 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Border Swan and Acanthus (Cowtan & Son) ca. 1830 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Border Palmette and Acanthus (Cowtan & Son) ca. 1840 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Flowers and leaves on mouldings ca. 1800-1825 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Narcissi and leaves on mouldings ca. 1825-50 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Blossoms on mouldings ca. 1840 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Corner-piece Oak (Walter Crane for Jeffrey & Co.) 1904 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Corner-piece Cornucopiae and Palmettes ca. 1825-50 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Bamboo (Thomas Avery Co.) ca. 1837-44 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Frieze Rabbit and Deer (Walter Crane for Jeffrey & Co.) 1887 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Frieze Lyre and Garland (Walter Crane for Jeffrey & Co.) 1911 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
English Wallpaper Frieze Sardeloes (Arthur Sanderson & Sons) ca. 1905 block-printed Victoria & Albert Museum, London |