Katarzyna Kobro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katarzyna Kobro
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Katarzyna Kobro with her daughter in 1938
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| Born | 26 January 1898 |
| Died | 21 February 1951 (aged 53) |
| Nationality | Polish (naturalized) |
| Education | Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture |
| Known for | Sculpting |
| Movement | Constructivism |
| Spouse(s) |
Władysław Strzemiński
(m. 1920, divorced) |
Katarzyna Kobro (born January 26, 1898 – died February 21, 1951) was a famous Polish sculptor. She was a leading artist in the Constructivist art movement in Poland. She created new kinds of abstract sculptures that explored space and shape. Kobro believed art should use scientific ideas and be connected to the world around us.
Born in Moscow to a family with German and Russian roots, Kobro moved to Poland in the 1920s. Most of her important artworks were made there. With her husband, Władysław Strzemiński, she explored how sculptures could interact with space. They used everyday objects and industrial materials in their art.
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Early Life and Education
Katarzyna Kobro was born on January 26, 1898, in Moscow, which was then part of the Russian Empire. Her family had different backgrounds. Her father, Nikolai Alexander Michael von Kobro, was from a family of Baltic Germans from what is now Latvia. Her mother, Evgenia Rozanov, was Russian.
Kobro spent her early years in Riga. In 1915, her family moved to Moscow. From 1917 to 1920, she studied art at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. She was part of the Moscow Union of Artists, working with other famous artists like Kazimir Malevich and Alexander Rodchenko. In 1920, Kobro married another Polish artist, Władysław Strzemiński. In 1922, she moved to Poland and became a Polish citizen in 1924.
Artistic Career and Groups
After moving to Poland, Katarzyna Kobro and her husband, Władysław Strzemiński, settled in small towns like Szczekociny and Koluszki. They both worked as teachers.
In 1926, Kobro helped start an art group called Praesens with architects Bohdan Lachert and Szymon Syrkus. However, she left the group in 1929 because they had different ideas about art. Later, Kobro, Strzemiński, painter Henryk Stażewski, and poets Jan Brzękowski and Julian Przyboś formed a new group called a.r. group. This name often stands for "Revolutionary Artists" or "Real Avant-Garde."
Kobro played a key role in creating the Museum of Art in Łódź. In 1932, she and her husband joined another international art group called Abstraction-Création. In 1937, Kobro also signed the Dimensionist Manifesto, a document about art ideas published by artists like Jean Arp and Marcel Duchamp.
What Was Kobro's Art Style Like?
Katarzyna Kobro was one of the most forward-thinking artists between World War I and World War II. Her art was strongly influenced by Constructivism. This style meant she didn't focus on beauty for its own sake or on individual feelings in art. Instead, she wanted art to be based on clear, objective rules.
Her main goal was to create abstract sculptures using universal and objective principles. She found these rules by experimenting and studying how shapes and space work together. Kobro's sculptures explored the idea of infinite space. She wanted her art to blend with the space around it, rather than just being a solid object. She made sure her sculptures didn't divide space but allowed space to flow through them.
Lasting Impact and Recognition
Katarzyna Kobro's unique way of creating sculptures had a big influence on many modern artists. For example, the Belgian sculptor Georges Vantongerloo was inspired by her work in the 1920s and 1930s.
Her artworks have been shown in famous museums all over the world. These include the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
On December 12, 2012, the International Astronomical Union honored Kobro by naming a crater on the planet Mercury after her. This crater is called Kobro.
On January 26, 2022, Google celebrated her 124th birthday with a special Doodle on their homepage.
See also
- List of Polish sculptors
- Art in Poland
- Constructivism
