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Technique: cast bronze
Dimensions: 160 cm (H)
Object: This representational sculpture depicts a standing woman wearing a long, tight-fitting dress. The statue was made in the cast bronze technique. It has a shiny gold surface, with visible details of the dress: folds of the fabric, buttons and a pointed bonnet. The life-size figure is slender, her facial features convey the individual characteristics of the model. The woman is depicted in a static manner, slightly hunched, with outstretched arms. The sculpture was created in 1977 and acquired by the National Museum in Gdańsk in the same year. Since 1977, Grass Goddess has formed part of the open-air sculpture exhibition at the Oliwa Park. It was stolen in the 1990s and removed from the list of NMG’s exhibits in 1996.
Place: Until the 1990s, the sculpture was integrated into the natural landscape of the northern part of the Adam Mickiewicz Park in Oliwa. It formed part of the permanent outdoor exhibition of the Gallery of Contemporary Gdańsk Sculpture from the collection of the National Museum in Gdańsk, created on the initiative of the Museum, the District Board of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers (ZPAP) and the City Council. The gallery, showcasing works by artists from different generations, was officially opened on 30 March 1976.
Information about the author:
Alfred Wiśniewski (b. 1916 in Rogozin, d. 2011 in Sopot) studied at the State School of Decorative Arts and Artistic Industry in Poznań (present-day University of the Arts) at the Faculty of Sculpture and Bronze Work. Between 1946 and 1950, he continued his studies at the Faculty of Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw as an extramural student. He graduated in 1950 from Prof. Franciszek Strynkiewicz’s studio. Between 1947 and 1952, he worked at the State School of Visual Arts in Poznań, between 1953 and 1983, at the Faculty of Sculpture of the State High School of Visual Arts (PWSSP) in Gdańsk – the present-day Academy of Fine Arts. He was the university’s deputy vice-chancellor in 1954-1960. He took part in the reconstruction of sculptural elements of the historic architecture of Gdańsk’s Główne Miasto. He worked with sculpture, ceramics and medallic art. He created the Monument to Greater Poland Insurgents 1918–1919 in Poznań. The artist’s works are held at the National Museums in Poznań, Warsaw and Gdańsk and the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw.
Condition of the object: no object, the sculpture is lost
Owner/guardian: Until it was stolen, the sculpture belonged to the National Museum in Gdańsk.
Author of the entry: Andrzej Zagrobelny
Sources:
Index card from the Research Catalogue of Artistic and Artistic/Historical Exhibits, inv. no. MNG/SW/63/RZ
Bibliography:
Galeria Współczesnej Rzeźby Gdańskiej w Parku Oliwskim, J.W. Bradtke, ed., The National Museum in Gdańsk (Gdańsk 1978) [2nd edition, Gdańsk 1989]
Alfred Wiśniewski [1916–2011] – siły orfickie, D. Grubba-Thiede, ed., (Sopot 2016) [exhibition catalogue]
Franciszek Mamuszka, “Ekspozycja rzeźby w parku oliwskim”, in ead., Oliwa. Okruchy z dziejów, zabytki (Gdańsk 1985)
Adam Kromer, Oliwa (Gdańsk 2007)
Zofia Watrak, “Rodowody i kontynuacje rzeźby gdańskiej. Mistrzowie i uczniowie gdańskiej uczelni,” in Gdański Rocznik Kulturalny, no. 8 (1985)
Wojciech Zmorzyński, “Rzeźba,” in Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku 1945–2005. Tradycja i współczesność, The National Museum in Gdańsk (Gdańsk 2005)
Mentions of the artist:
Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Sztuk Plastycznych w Gdańsku: 1945–1965, J. Wnukowa, ed. (Gdańsk 1965)
Ignacy Witz, Plastycy Wybrzeża (Gdańsk 1969)
Wydział Rzeźby Akademii Sztuk Pięknych w Gdański: 2002–2003, L. Ostrogórska, J. Rudnicka, eds. (Gdańsk 2003)
Help us build the database of art objects in Gdańsk by filling in the form and adding photographs.
