Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Magdalena Abakanowicz lives and works in Warsaw. In addition to reflecting her personal history—growing up in Poland during the horrors of World War II—her sculpture speaks eloquently of the universal human experience of struggle against restrictive forces, whether they be artistic, spiritual, economic, or political.

Influenced by growing up in Poland during the horrors of World War II, the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz eloquently addresses the universal human experience of struggle against restrictive forces, whether they be artistic, spiritual, economic, or political. In Cage, a single burlap cast of a man's back hunched slightly, as if defeated by life, sits within a rough log structure, seemingly trapped in the restrictive and isolated space. With her use of organic materials, Abakanowicz seems to suggest that despair is natural to the human condition.