The Largest Magdalena Abakanowicz exhibition in the Netherlands
On Friday, 18 April 2025, a remarkable monographic exhibition of the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930-2017) will open in the province of Noord Brabant. Unusual not only because of the creative heritage of Abakanowicz herself, one of the greatest visual artists of the 20th century, but also because three institutions are involved in displaying of the exhibition. Her works will be presented by the TextielMuseum in Tilburg, as well as at Het Noordbrabants Museum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. At the Provincial House, also in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Abakanowicz’s largest work in the world, the installation Bois le Duc, will be on display. After the huge success of the exhibition at London’s famous Tate Gallery in 2022, it is time for the Polish artist’s largest exhibition to date in the Netherlands!
Three locations
The triptych motif is found not only in the three locations, but also in the exhibition’s common subtitle: Big, Bigger, Biggest. This allows the artist’s oeuvre to be presented in a very broad perspective.
The exhibition at the TextielMuseum, Everything is Made of Fibre, exposes Abakanowicz’s influence on the evolution of textiles into an independent art form and the creative process involved. Meanwhile, the exhibition at Het Noordbrabants Museum, Human Nature focuses more on the artist’s views, her reactions to world events and the relationship between man and nature.
Bois le Duc, on the other hand, is a monumental, three-dimensional installation, 7 metres high and 22 metres wide. It was made on site at the Provincial House in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1970-71, specifically commissioned by the building’s hosts, the local authorities of North Brabant. The room in which the installation is located is not usually open to the public, but for the duration of the exhibition it will be accessible to the visitors, along with materials explaining the process of how the work was created.
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Bois le Duc, (1970-1971), Provinciehuis Noord-Brabant © The Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz Kosmowska and Jan Kosmowski Foundation, Warsaw. Photo Rob Lipsius
The artist
Magdalena Abakanowicz is often referred to as the godmother of artistic installations. She gained worldwide fame and recognition for her innovative approach to woven tapestries, which she chose to exhibit not in two dimensions, flat on the wall, but as three-dimensional objects suspended from the ceiling. She used fibres and fabrics to create abstract, monumental forms for which critics could not find a good name. They were named ‘abacanas’ after the artist’s last name. This name is still in use to this day.
For me, fibre is a fundamental element in the construction of the organic world of our planet. All living organisms are made of fibres. The tissues of plants and ourselves. Our nervous system, genetic code, blood system, muscles. We are all a fibrous structure – she wrote.
You can read more about the work of M. Abakanowicz in one of our previous articles Every tangle counts.
Sculptures, installations, objects
Abacanas, made of sisal, horsehair and wool, will be among the objects on display, along with the highly impressive series Backs (1976-80). The human-shaped figures, but without heads or hands, empty inside, depersonalised, refer to the traumas of war and suffering. Despite the passage of time, the theme is unfortunately still relevant.
Works by Dutch artists such as Herman Scholten (1932-2013), Desiree Scholten van de Rivière (1920-1987), Krijn Giezen (1939-2011) and Harrie Boom (1945-1995) are also included in the exhibition. These objects are mostly from the TextielMuseum’s collection and show Abakanowicz’s influence on her contemporaries. Many of them came across her work at the Lausanne Textile Biennale.
It will also be possible to see previously unpublished archive materials allowing visitors to learn about the artist’s working methods, creative process and technics applied.
The exhibition will be open at all three locations until 24 August 2025 and will be accompanied by workshops, lectures and symposia.
Monika Gimblett
Top photo: Magdalena Abakanowicz by Marek Holzman, copyright estate Marek Holzman, the Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz-Kosmowska and Jan Kosmowski Foundation
