My first encounter with the work of sculptor Maria Bartuszová (1936-1996) at Tate Modern, and I was immediately struck by the absence of colour. Everything here with the exception of small touches of the warmth of bronze or wood, was monochromatic, steel grey, or the pure white of plaster. Bartuszová had chosen to forego the colour spectrum in order to pursue form in her highly tactile sculptures. As such these sculptures appear to have a timeless quality about them. I would like to see some of them juxtaposed against and in 'conversation' with similar white, ancient Greek and Roman statuary. Bartuszová was born in Prague but spent much of her working life in Slovakia. Here under Communist rule she was able to gain commissions to embellish architecture with her sculptures despite the strict state approval her works were subject to. Bartuszová created large public works in aluminium, bronze and rock, but is perhaps best known for her smaller, more intimate pieces. Some of these were experimental and developed out of her maternal care, playing with her children and involved filling balloons and condoms with plaster and submerging these in water or blowing air into them to create casts. Many of these pieces were inspired by nature and natural forms and were cast in aluminium, bronze and plaster. Some were used in workshops and classrooms to introduce art to partially sighted and blind children to stimulate their senses. As a former teacher of art and design myself, I found this element of Bartuszová's practice the most touching, and remember exercises in class we did where students would have to work blindfolded and rely on senses other than sight when creating artworks. Even though Bartuszová worked in relative isolation, there were elements of the works or ideas here that reminded me of those of other artists such as Jean Arp's amorphous sculptures, and the large paintings of almost luminous white cloth and paper by painter Alison Watt (here). My favourite pieces in this retrospective were those that resembled eggs in the various stages of being hatched, containing other egg forms inside like Russian nesting dolls, or those that had been artfully pierced with irregular holes. Their cocoon-like shapes, with their highly tactile, apparent sense of fragility, combined with the dazzling white of the plaster medium were just irresistible.
Maria Bartuszová
until 25th June
Tate Modern
Bankside
London
SE1
