Ewa Juszkiewicz (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 September 1984 in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

) is a Polish

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. She is a graduate of the

Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and the

Kraków Academy of Fine Arts The Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (, usually abbreviated to ''ASP''), is a public institution of higher education located in the centre of Kraków, Poland. It is the oldest Polish fine art academy, established in 1818 and granted f ...

. She is considered one of the best-known contemporary Polish artists.

Career and style

Between 2004 and 2009, she studied at the

. She is a member of the AAA Tanie Wizualki collective. Among the distinguishing features of the artist's works are surrealist female portraits inspired by classic 18th and 19th-century paintings. She is notable for masking the faces of the subjects of her portraits with locks of hair, bunches of flowers, shells or fabrics. By reinterpreting Flemish masterpieces Juszkiewicz seeks to redress historical failures in the artistic portrayal of women who were often relegated to being little more than anonymous objects of beauty. According to art critic Lucia Longhi, Juszkiewicz "dismantled these old paradigms that hid a woman's personality and visualized a new role for them" adding that "By deconstructing the original painting, she deconstructs the conventions behind it." In 2013, she was awarded the Grand Prix at the Bielska Jesień Biennale organized by the

Galeria BWA Galeria Bielska BWA is a municipal art gallery of Bielsko-Biała, Poland, dedicated to the contemporary art. It carries out exhibition, publishing, documentary and educational activities. It is the organiser of the Painting Biennale Bielsko Autum ...

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; ; , ; ) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 166,765 as of December 2022, making it the List of cities and towns in Poland#Largest cities and towns by population, 22nd largest city in Poland, and an a ...

, Poland, for her two portraits: ''Girl in Blue'' and ''Untitled (After Rogier van der Weyden)''. In 2014, she was included in the book ''100 Painters of Tomorrow'' published by

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, discussing the most promising young painters in the world. In 2018, she appeared in the Kompas Młodej Sztuki ranking compiled by ''

Rzeczpospolita () is a traditional Polish term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "rzeczpospolita", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage" "thing, matter" and "common" is analogous to the Latin ''rēs pūblica' ...

'' in partnership with a number of galleries of

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

in Poland. In 2023, her art was used as the design for a luxury handbag from fashion house

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...

as part of the artist's collaboration on the fifth edition of the brand's Artycapucines collection.

Art market

In May 2022, her 2019 painting titled ''Portrait of a Lady (After Louis Leopold Boilly)'' sold for $1.56 million at an auction in the United States. All the proceeds from the sale were donated to Warsaw's

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews () is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word ''Polin'' in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the firs ...

. As Ana Maria Celis observes, in this work the artist tackles the problem of historical erasure of women through a singular and subversive technique. She further states that "The juxtaposition of the classical stylization with the evocative subject matter of a female sitter's whose head is fully wrapped sparks new narratives around portrayals of

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...

and deconstructs the past to create new dialogues."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juszkiewicz, Ewa Living people 1984 births Polish surrealist artists People from Gdańsk Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni 21st-century Polish painters 21st-century Polish women painters

Career and style

Art market

See also

References