The oeuvre of Igor Mitoraj, a Polish sculptor known and appreciated around the world, somewhat marginalised and passed over in silence in Poland, is usually placed on the axis marked by antiquity and modernity.

However, although these references are not devoid of solid justification, the artist's work was also influenced by other cultural currents, trends in art or cultural trends. Not devoid of references to Christianity, it also contains Hindu motifs, alluding to Buddhism or Aztec beliefs. It is no stranger to Dadaism, Surrealism or Postmodernism. It also fits perfectly into the framework of contemporary art.

In the case of Igor Mitoraj, however, we can speak not only of a wealth of influences, but also of the diversity of the fields of art he has dealt with. Associated primarily with sculpture, Mitoraj was also an excellent draughtsman, printmaker, an outstanding creator of stage sets and costumes for operas, as well as a skilful jewellery maker.

This essay will focus primarily on the artist's sculptural oeuvre, without, however, overlooking the other fields of art practised by Igor Mitoraj.

From Grojec to Italy

Igor Mitoraj* was born on 26 March 1944 in the German town of Oederan, located in Saxony, a dozen or so kilometres west of Freiberg. He is the son of Zofia Mąkina, a forced labourer, and George (surname unknown), a French Foreign Legion officer who was in a prisoner of war camp in the area.

In February 1945, mother and son are sent to Dresden, from where they escape during a bombardment. George returns to his native Paris. From Dresden, Igor and Zofia go to Grojec, located near Oświęcim. Zofia Mąkina marries Czesław Mitoraj, who adopts little George.

In 1959, Igor Mitoraj began his education at the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Bielsko-Biała, to go on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in 1966-1968. However, Igor did not finish his studies: in 1968 he decided to emigrate to France, from where he travelled around the world. In 1985, he bought a house in the Tuscan town of Pietrasanta, where he settled permanently.

The art of Igor Mitoraj, nicknamed the 'Michelangelo of the East', is gaining immense popularity even during his lifetime. The artist exhibited all over the world, among others in Germany, Switzerland, Monte Carlo, France, Italy, Spain, the United States, England, Poland and Greece. He becomes an honorary citizen of the city of Pietrasanta, receives the title of doctor honoris causa of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (2003) and the highest Polish state distinctions: Gold Medal "Meritorious for Culture Gloria Artis" (2005) and Commander's Cross of the Order of Rebirth of Poland (2012).

Igor Mitoraj dies on 6 October 2014 at his estate in the south of France, Château de Confoux, after many years of struggling with cancer. He is buried in the local cemetery in Pietrasanta.

Imperfect antiquity

The first associations with Igor Mitoraj's art come to mind spontaneously - antiquity and antiquity. Drawing extensively on mythology in Greek culture, the artist seeks out the protagonists of his sculptures, depicting their beautiful, dignified bodies.

The influence of antiquity in Igor Mitoraj's art manifests itself in the classical model of beauty the artist adheres to, the ideal proportions and shapes of his sculptures, as well as anthropomorphic beauty and ubiquitous references to mythology. Igor Mitoraj openly draws on the anthropocentric figural art to which he has been most faithful (created during the Pericles period, between Marathon and Salamis and the death of Alexander the Great), representing the Attic variety from the time between Phidias and Praxiteles.

Igor Mitoraj's sculptures, in addition to the classical idea of ancient beauty, also refer to the Platonic idea of Beauty, Goodness and Truth, embodying the qualities so much desired by the ancient Greeks, even emanating them.

However, the viewer of the work of "Michelangelo of the East" soon notices that the mythological figures that the artist brought to life in his art - Eros, Icarus, Centaurs, Gorgons, Perseus, Tyndareos - and the heroes he himself brought into existence, such as Icaria, Dea Roma or the Gorgon hunters, thus creating his own mythological imaginarium, a separate world to which he invites us, lack something.

Icarus without wings, Icaria without a head, Perseus, reduced to a torso. Greek heroes, gods and heroes deprived of arms, legs, maimed, crippled, weak. Sometimes the artist not only takes something away from the heroes, but also adds to them. He puts bandages over their eyes and heads, has foreign hands wrap around their torsos or ankles, immerses miniatures of other works in their torsos, attaches them to their legs. Sculptures that are incomplete, yet complete.

This lack, as well as the surplus, are places where the antique gives way to other influences.

There is a method in this lack

Absence, mutilations, harmony and ideal beauty broken by imperfections, reminiscent of Tadeusz Kantor's work, tear the viewer of Mitoraj's art out of the apparent bliss into which the visible influence of antiquity had managed to put him. The space surrounding the sculpture, so important for Mitoraj's works, which enter into a constant dialogue with it, begins to penetrate the split torsos.

A shaking out of the obvious, but also a mystery. Igor Mitoraj's mutilated sculptures become mystical witnesses of the present, leading lives of mystery. They surprise with a shift in scale, amaze with heroism, always leading to its subversion and defeat.

Beauty is thus an imperfection, evoking a powerful wave of feelings and emotions. The fragmentary nature of the sculptures not only highlights and realises the passage of time, but also protects the artist from banality, from cliché. Unambiguous in their beauty and ideal, the heroes become metaphors, figurations, thanks to their frailties. They come down from their pedestals to become like us.

Igor Mitoraj, a virtuoso of patina, a master of using various materials, equally comfortable in bronze and marble, was also, or perhaps above all, a virtuoso of mixing influences and referring to various currents of the epoch.

The very genesis of the sculptures, which the artist pointed to, seeing it in daydreams, memories, the subconscious, in a word, in works based on anamnesis, is one of the most important features and methodologies of postmodern poetics.

Beware, however, of the trap of simplistic thinking! Although Mitoraj's sculptures are a type of postmodern installation, they cannot be unambiguously classified within the aforementioned trend. Mitoraj's sculptures lack the irony, mockery, farce or pastiche characteristic of postmodernism. In their place, we find a whole range of characteristics of contemporary art.

The ultimate irresolvability of meaning, the entanglement of motifs, the polyphonic nature of art referring to itself, its fragmentary nature, discontinuity and dispersal, as well as dislocation, that is, the displacement of elements of a sculpture within a single work, or, finally, the synthesis of sculpture as form, structure and place, as well as its descent from the pedestal to the viewer; it is enough to mention just a few of the above elements which make Igor Mitoraj a thoroughly contemporary artist.

Thus, elements of postmodernism, a range of contemporary art characteristics and... surrealism. Its influence can be found in the ambiguous bandages with which Igor Mitoraj likes to wrap his sculptures. The artist's creative gesture is nothing other than covering, wrapping, wrapping, characteristic of surrealism, which has its sources, in Mitoraj's case, also in Polish fantasy and the sense of nonsense. The influence of the Polish avant-garde, with its magic realism, surrealist humour or theatricality, is clearly visible in the 'wrapping' of the sculptures.

Who was the Polish sculptor inspired by? The influence of Tadeusz Kantor, as well as Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Maurice Henri or Christo cannot be overestimated in the case of Igor Mitoraj. Mitoraj's other inspirations include the work of artists such as Constantin Brâncuși, Alberto Giacometti, Kazimir Malevich, Pablo Picasso, Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Anthony Caro and Richard Serra.

The contemporaneity in Mitoraj's art also manifests itself in the form of deconstruction, equating form with content, introspectivity, self-definition. The squares appearing in the artist's sculptures are also a symbol of contemporary art, the transformation of the body into abstraction is, in turn, a reference to Cubism. References to Henry Moore and his 'aerial sculpture' can be seen in the artist's work, references to Henri Matisse can also be found; it seems that Igor Mitoraj shared the artist's desire for the viewer to look at the work of art while seeing something outside of it, for it to evoke a wave of associations.

Igor Mitoraj's art, therefore, can be said to fall within the strongest dogma of contemporary art. It absolutises form, while clinging, one might even say obsessively, to the idea of beauty. It arouses wonder, raising questions which every viewer must answer for themselves.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the artist has managed to resist other dominant trends in art, such as conceptualism, minimalism, abstraction, figurative art, remaining true to himself and to his internal, coherent creative logic.

Christianity, Eastern religions and... Mexico

Igor Mitoraj could be called an artist of paradox, masterfully combining in his work themes as distant from each other as antiquity and modernity. He was also able to smuggle into his works features typical of Aztec art, elements alluding to Christianity and even elements of the Orient.

The artist's trip to Mexico in the 1970s resulted above all in the enormous scale in which he created his sculptures. The attentive viewer will notice in some of Mitoraj's works the Aztec facial features and the eye shape typical of the peoples of Mexico. It is difficult not to notice the buoyancy of the master's works.

Although the artist never travelled to India, he was fascinated by the Orient and repeatedly said that Indian sculpture came closest to the idea of divinity. The heads without bandages, characteristic of Mitoraj's works, can be called Buddhist. They are an alternative to the mutilated, bandaged heads of classical form. They make us rise above mortality, transcend human nature, allow us to achieve inner peace, recreating Buddha's path towards illumination.

Christian elements, on the other hand, can be seen in works such as Memory, Annunciation or Angelic Gate. They allude to a possible message of the artist's sculptures: beauty is a reflection of God, as well as the hope of salvation. Suffering, so strongly inscribed in Christianity, manifests itself in Mitoraj's work in the form of cracked skin, mutilations, deficiencies, deep geometric wounds, which in turn brings to mind the Renaissance techniques of Matthias Grünewald used in the work Crucifixion.

The artist does not only live by sculpture

The best way to summarise the creative output of Igor Mitoraj, one of the greatest Polish artists in the history of art, is to complement the above sketch with a few words about the other fields he dealt with.

Igor Mitoraj was not only an outstanding sculptor, but also a painter. He created his prints and paintings, which he called 'icons', using the ancient technique of encaustic painting, known among others from the frescoes in Pompeii or Byzantine icons, based on applying paint in a binder of beeswax (or natural resin), with the addition of pigment and turpentine. The artist's prints, in turn, were particularly influenced by Tadeusz Kantor.

Another important field of art for Igor Mitoraj was opera scenography, often made from synthetic resin, original and significantly deviating from the generally accepted conventions.

It should also not be forgotten that Igor Mitoraj began by... creating jewellery from precious metals and stones. Such characteristic motifs of the artist's work as human body shapes and bandages can be seen in his work.

Igor Mitoraj is an apothecary of antiquity, a representative of the present day, but also... a "Renaissance man", who in each of his artistic domains, adheres to one overriding value.

Beauty.

*Igor Mitoraj was given the name Jerzy at his baptism, but changed it to Igor in 1968 in connection with his emigration to France. Also at that time, he was adopted by the French writer Jane Gaillot (Coriola) and took her surname (only formally). Coriola was his friend's aunt.

Calendar of major exhibitions

1967 - Cracow, Galeria Krzysztofory
1976 - Paris, Galerie La Hune
1977 - Berlin, Galerie Maison
Paris, Galerie Artcurial
1978 - Lugano, Galleria Gübelin
Zurich, Galerie Dovat
1979 - The Hague, Galerie Studio 40
Marseille, Galerie Bornan
1980 - Amsterdam, Galerie Mathilde
Geneva, Galerie G. Bach
Hamburg, Galerie Levy
1981 - Cologne, Kunstmesse
1982 - Monte Carlo, La Roccabella
1983 - Freiburg, Galerie Artcurial
Saint-Tropez, Galerie Cupillard
1984 - Hamburg, Galerie Levy, Igor Mitoraj. Skulpturen, zeichnungen
Rome, Galleria Toninelli
1985 - Metz, Maison de la Culture
Milan, Compagnia del Disegno
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo
Palermo, Galleria La Tavolozza
Portofino, Galleria Civica
1986 - Geneva, Galerie Pierre Huber
Paris, Galerie La Hune, Igor Mitoraj - Sculptures 1976-1986
1987 - Basel, Galerie Valente
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi
Milan, Igor Mitoraj - Sculpture 1987
Rome, Galleria Due Ci
1988 - Madrid, Galerie Levy
1989 - Barcelona, Sala Gaspar Gallery
New York, New York Academy of Art, Igor Mitoraj - Sculptures
1990 - Dallas, The Gerald Peters Gallery, Igor Mitoraj - Sculptures and Drawings
1991 - Milan, Castello Sforzesco
New York, The M&I. Rayburn Foundation
Paris, Galerie Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand, Têtes de Igor Mitoraj
1992 - London, Berkeley Square Fine Art Gallery
1993 - Cracow, Jagiellonian University
Warsaw, Kordegarda Gallery
1994 - Barcelona, Joan Gaspar Gallery
Madrid, Galeria Levy
1995 - Forte dei Marmi, Galleria Contini
Macerata, Igor Mitoraj - Immagini della città
New York, Marisa del Re Gallery, Igor Mitoraj - Bitter
Tear of Aphrodite
1997 - Milan, Biblioteca di via Senato, Mitoraj. Il giardino delle muse
Pietrasanta, Church of San Augustino and piazza Duomo
Rome, Polish Institute
1998 - Frankfurt, Die Galerie, Opernplatz
1999 - Athens, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Glancing at the Century
Florence, Giardino di Boboli and Palazzo Pitti, Igor Mitoraj. Dei ed eroi
2000 - San Marino, Repubblica di San Marino, Centro storico, Mitoraj: nostalgia del mito
Toronto, Miriam Schiell Gallery, Recent Bronzes
Venice, Galleria Contini, Mitoraj miti incrociati
2001 - Lausanne, Musée Olympique, Igor Mitoraj, nouvelle mythologie
2002 - Darmstadt, Mathildenhöhe, Mitoraj. Skulpturen
Massa Marittima, Museo Archeologico Torre del Lago, Puccini, scenography and costumes,
for Manon Lescaut
2003 - Poznań, National Museum, Old Market Square
Krakow, International Cultural Centre and Market Square
2004 - Warsaw, Royal Castle, National Museum, Presidential Gallery
Kordegarda
Paris, JGM Galerie, Sculptures: Cité perdue, Jardin des Tuileries, Sculptures monumentales
Rome, Mercati di Traiano, Mitoraj ai Mercati di Traiano
2005 - Venice, Musei Civici Veneziani, Ca'Pesaro, Igor Mitoraj. Sculture
2006 - Torre del Lago, Puccini Festival, set and costume design for Tosca
2007 - Palermo, Loggiato San Bartolomeo, Igor Mitoraj. Angeli, miti ed eroi
Madrid, Arte en la calle, Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido
2008 - Venice, Galleria Contini, BiancoNero
2009 - Warsaw, Reed Factory, Lux in Tenebris
2010 - Paris, Mitoraj. Un sculpteur à la Défense
Aix-en-Provence, Mitoraj Monumental
Florence, Giardino di Boboli, set and costume design for Giuseppe Verdi's Aida
2011 - Agrigento, Valle dei Templi
2012 - Frankfurt, University, Igor Mitoraj. Skulpturen
2013 - Verona, Museo di Castelvecchio, Mitoraj. Sculture
2014 - Pisa, Piazza del Duomo, Mitoraj. Angeli
2015 - Pietrasanta, Piazza Duomo and St Augustine's Monastery Complex, Mitoraj. Mito e Musica
Venice, Galleria Contini, Omaggio a Mitoraj

Key dates in the life of Igor Mitoraj

26 March 1944 - birth of Igor Mitoraj in Oederan, Germany

1947 - arrival with his mother in Grojec

1952-1959 - education at the Primary School in Grojec

1959-1964 - education at the State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Bielsko-Biała, specialisation: artistic weaving

1963 - death of stepfather, Czesław Mitoraj

1964-1965 - employment in the Municipal Retail Trade in Katowice

21 October 1965-1966 - employed as an in-house artist at the Chemical Plant Culture Centre in Oświęcim (probably the position of in-house artist at the "Oświęcim" Chemical Plant)

1966-1968 - Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow

1968 - departure to France and stay in Paris, from where Igor travelled all over Europe (especially to Italy), to the USA and Mexico

1985 - settling permanently in Pietrasanta (Italy) and buying a house

6 October 2014 - death at a chateau in the south of France following a long-standing serious illness with cancer