Capturing Life. ALINA SZAPOCZNIKOW - Drawings and Sculptures catalogue edited by Józef GRABSKI Cracow-Warsaw 2004 232 × 252 mm, Pages: 374 ISBN 83-918454-7-8 On the cover: Untitled, about 1963, pencil, red ink and ballpoint on paper (cat. no. 340)

The catalogue offers the first complete inventory of the artist's drawings, dating from the late 1940s till the very last works drawn by her in hospital in 1973. An attempt has been made to arrange the 620 drawings chronologically or thematically, basing on their stylistic features and iconographic contents. Among them there are portraits and "academic" nude sketches, preparatory studies for sculptures and large-format drawing showing some abstract organic forms, apparently made purely for the pleasure of drawing. One finds here both large-size drawings prepared for exhibitions or sale, as well as random sketches and "drawing-notes" - the artist's ideas put down on casual scraps of paper. All works are reproduced in colour and described in detail. The drawings and about 60 sculptures, also shown on the exhibition, are accompanied by a rich body of scholarship on Szapocznikow's art (13 essays by art critics and artist-friends of the sculptress), with the emphasis put on critical texts exploring the role of drawing in Szapocznikow's oeuvre.