Barbara Zbrożyna was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 sculptor, author of figural sculptures, monuments, portraits, religious and sepulchral sculptures. Her style evolved from realism through the synthetic simplifications, expressive and metaphoric deformation, to abstraction. She was also a painter, drawer and poet. Awarded for achievements in arts by Solidarność (1984, 1989), awarded the Prize of Brat Albert Chmielowski (1986) and Prize of Polcul Foundation (1991).

Biography

Barbara Zbrożyna was born on September 1, 1923 in Lublin

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...

. She studied at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts

Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts

The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, or Kraków Academy of Fine Arts , located in Kraków, Poland, is the oldest Polish fine-arts academy, established in 1818.It is a state-run university that offers 5- and 6-year Master's degree programs...

 in Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 at Xawery Dunikowski

Xawery Dunikowski

Xawery Dunikowski was a Polish sculptor and artist, notable for surviving Auschwitz concentration camp, and best known for his Neo-Romantic sculptures and Auschwitz-inspired art.- Biography :...

 (1945–1947) and at the Academy of Fine Arts

Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw is a public university of visual and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw University in 1812. As a separate institution it was founded in 1844 during the Partitions of Poland...

 in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 at Franciszek Strynkiewicz (1947–1952). In the years of 1951–1954 he participated in reconstruction of monumental sculptures in Warsaw. In 1976 she signed Letter of 59

Letter of 59

The Letter of 59 was an open letter signed by 66 Polish intellectuals who protested against the changes of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland that were made by the communist party of Poland in 1975...

, an open letter signed by 66 Polish intellectuals who protested against the changes of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland

Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland

The Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland was passed on 22 July 1952. Created by the Polish communists in the People's Republic of Poland, it was based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution , and it superseded the post-war provisional Small Constitution of 1947 which, at its turn, had declared...

.

She died on December 15, 1995 in Warsaw.

Works

She was an author of sepulchral sculptures of Xawery Dunikowski (1966), Stanisław Herbst (1974), Artur Sandauer and Erna Rosenstein

Erna Rosenstein

Erna Rosenstein was a surrealist painter and poet. She was the daughter of an Austrian judge, born into a Jewish family in the town of Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, now Lwov in Ukraine. She died of arterial sclerosis....

(1989), figural sculptures, monuments, portraits, and religious sculptures. Her most popular sculpture was the sandstone statue of a Warsaw tradeswoman on the Mariensztat marketplace in Warsaw (1949).