Katarzyna Kobro's 124th Birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates the 124th birthday of Russian-born, Polish avant-garde sculptor and art theoretician Katarzyna Kobro. Her utilitarian and geometric sculptures explored the relationship between expression and the infinitude of space, carving out Kobro’s place as a leading innovator of early 20th century Central European abstract art.  

Katarzyna Kobro was born into a multicultural family in Moscow on this day in 1898. Following an early interest in arts and sciences, Kobro enrolled in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in 1917 where she collaborated with progressive groups re-envisioning Russian art. Her stylistic development was complemented by emerging attitudes in the Polish avant-garde, in which artists believed art could be incorporated into everyday life through mass production.

On this creative foundation, Kobro created her first sculpture in 1920—an amalgamation of metal, wood, glass, and cork titled “Tos 75 - Struktura” (Tos 75 - Structure). She moved to Poland soon after, where she created her most famous works—the 1925–1933 sculpture series “Kompozycja Przestrzenna” (Spatial Compositions) and the 1931 philosophy book,  “Composition of Space: Calculations of Space-Time Rhythm,” co-written with her husband, Władysław Strzemiński. Kobro further declared her conceptual philosophy in signing the 1936 Parisian “Manifeste Dimensioniste” (“Dimensionist Manifesto”), which called for the integration of scientific advancements into art. 

In the mid-twentieth century, art historians began restoring Kobro’s works, which reignited interest in her influence on the social and artistic movements of her time. Much of Kobro’s remaining artworks are currently on display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York’s 2021 exhibition “Collection 1940s–1970s.” 

Here’s to an intellect who shaped the art world—Katarzyna Kobro!

Early drafts of the Doodle