Dimensions: 96 x 24.5 x 11 cm
Provenance
Łódź, private collection. Collection of the artist’s heirs.
Bibliography
Kowaleska, M., and Musiał, G. (eds.), Antoni Starczewski. Transpositions, Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, Łódź 2020.
The presented “Vertical Belt Arrangement” from the 1960s is a composition in which Antoni Starczewski gave tangible form to his fascination with the relationship between the visual arts and music. The artist directly equated the process of creating rhythmic sculptures with the act of composing a musical work. He was interested in the concept of the module and the alphabet. The objects he created can be viewed as visual scores, consisting of symbols arranged in a linear order. The sculpture on display takes the form of a rather slender, vertical composition built from orderly elements. Sharply defined spatial forms resembling cones rise from a flat base. Despite its apparent static nature, the work conveys expression through the play of light. The work is a superb testament to the artist’s explorations, which began at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, in which Władysław Strzemiński’s Unist theories merge with the search for visual equivalents of musical notation. It was precisely this innovative artistic language—in which the physical medium is fully subordinated to the overarching idea of rhythm— brought the artist international recognition and paved the way for him to represent Poland at such prestigious events as the International Biennial of Printmaking in Florence.
