Maria Papa Rostkowska

One of the most interesting woman-sculptors of the 20^th century. She studied at the Stanisław Noakowski School of Architecture for Women in Warsaw. In 1943 she married Ludwik Rostkowski, with whom she took part in saving Jews from the Warsaw ghetto. During the Warsaw Uprising she joined the underground forces and actively participated in fighting the Nazis. After the war she was awarded the Medal of Virtuti Militari. In 1957 she left Poland for ever; the following year she married Gualtieri Papa de San Lazzaro – Italian writer, art critic, publisher of the magazine XX-e Siècle. Since the late 50s she was mainly creating sculptures in clay, sometimes cast in bronze. Since mid 60s, it was marble that became her material of choice. In 1966 she set up her studio in Pietrasanta, near the Carrara quarry. Maria Papa Rostkowska’s first retrospective in Poland took place in 2014 at the Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture in Warsaw.