Barbara Falender
Barbara Falender, born in 1947 in Wrocław, is a distinguished Polish sculptor, photographer, and performer. She completed her education at the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, under Prof. Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz. Falender’s work spans sculptures in stone and bronze, frequently incorporating different materials or marble varieties. In the 1970s, she began experimenting with synthetic materials, and since the 1980s, she has also included porcelain. Falender was awarded a scholarship by the Italian government in 1976 for marble sculpture work in Carrara. She has received numerous awards, including the first prize at the Winter Salon in Radom in 1980 and a prize at the III Sculpture Symposium in Fanano in 1985. Her works are part of numerous private and museum collections, including the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko and the National Museums in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznań, and Szczecin. In her creations, Falender ingeniously melds explorations of the female and male form—echoing themes from the sexual revolution—with the grand classical traditions that trace back to antiquity. She is recognised as a master in crafting both sensual and idealistic sculptures, utilising marble, a material known for its challenging nature and intrinsic value. – Prof. Paweł Leszkowicz, Through Touch, curatorial text in the catalogue for the exhibition at CSK in Lublin, 2023, p. 13.