The exhibition was another in a series of the initiatives of the International Cultural Centre aimed at familiarisation of the Krakow audience with the achievements of the finest Polish artists working abroad. For Igor Mitoraj personally, it created an opportunity to return to his roots, to the place that first shaped him – as it was in Krakow that, many years ago, he embarked on an artistic path.

In 1968, Mitoraj, then a student of the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Tadeusz Kantor, abandoned Krakow and left for Paris to pursue his individual creative and artistic solutions.

Revealing fascination with the beauty of the ancient sculpture, Mitoraj’s works are heavily indebted to a classical anthropomorphic modus. The figures of ancient heroes, muses, titans undergo a complex process of deconstruction. Bodies deprived of arms, cracked torsos, crushed gigantic heads remind us of the archaeological relicts whose spell one cannot easily escape.

Beauty what does this word mean today? It has never been cheaper than nowadays, when beauty is anything you like. But there is still a certain kind of beauty whose model is inscribed in us, in the proportions, harmony, and perfection of our bodies. I think each of us understands this beauty. For years, Igor Mitoraj has been pursuing the perfection of rendering the human figure. [Andrzej Wajda]