Standing Figures (Thirty Figures)

This bronze work by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz was created over a four year span from 1994 to 1998. The artist witnessed the violence of the Nazi invasion of her home country as a girl, leading some to believe that the thirty headless figures may be victims. The piece is certainly haunting by most interpretations, but others notice the unique qualities of each figure and feel that the piece speaks to human individuality. After its dedication, the artist expressed her hope that viewers would consider multiple interpretations and possibilities. Each of the thirty bronze figures began with a cast from a burlap-lined body mold. Other works by Abakanowicz can be seen throughout leading cities of the United States and central Europe, as well as many private collections. The work is a gift from the Hall Family Foundation which supports education and the arts in Kansas City and the region.

One of the most renowned Polish artists of the 20th century, Magdalena Abakanowicz often shared how this and some of her other works were shaped by her experiences as a young woman in Poland under Nazi and Soviet occupation. In the 1950s, Abakanowicz began making abstract works using fiber-based sculptures and later turned to creating figurative textile pieces in the following decade along with other materials such as the bronze one sees in this work. This piece is one of several works Abakanowicz designed that make use of headless figures, including Agora in Chicago which is also included in Clio as part of the walking tour for Grant Park. Abakanowicz was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań for thirty-five years.

Although her work is as varied as her long career, Abakanowicz remains best known for groups of humanoid sculptures. Placed in context of her wartime experiences and her own explanation of this theme, one feels a sense that her work communicates something about the difficulty of exploring the meaning of humanity at scale. "I feel overawed by quantity where counting no longer makes sense," Abakanowicz explained when describing her work Caminando which was once part of the private collection of actor Robin Williams who was known best for his spontaneity and uniqueness.

"By creatures of nature gathered in herds, droves, species, in which each individual while subservient to the mass retains some distinguishing features," the artist continued. "A crowd of people or birds, insects or leaves, is a mysterious assemblage of variants of certain prototypes: a riddle of nature's abhorrence of exact repetition, or inability to produce it. Just as the human hand cannot repeat its own gesture, I invoke this disturbing law, switching my own immobile herds into that rhythm." Robin Williams owned several pieces by Abakanowicz, and in 2018, the late actor's collection was sold at auction to benefit a variety of charities he supported.

Gallery Label, Standing Figures (Thirty Figures), 1994-98 Bronze, Nelson-Atkins Museum. Accessed July 7th 2022.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, National Museum of Women in the Arts. Accessed August 14th, 2022. https://nmwa.org/art/artists/magdalena-abakanowicz/.

Magdalena Abakanowicz Caminando (20 Walking Figures), Sotheby's. Accessed August 14th, 2022. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/creating-a-stage-collection-of-marsha-and-robin-williams-n09977/lot.27.html.