Thaddaeus Ropac London Opens Teresa Pągowska: Shadow Self, Artist's UK Debut
The Facts
Thaddaeus Ropac London presents the UK debut of Polish artist Teresa Pągowska (1926–2007) in the exhibition 'Teresa Pągowska: Shadow Self', curated by Oona Doyle. The show assembles oil paintings and collaged works on paper from the 1960s to the mid-2000s, displayed across the gallery's 18th-century Mayfair townhouse. Pągowska, a significant figure in Polish post-war art, explores the boundary between figuration and abstraction, with the shadow as a recurring motif. The exhibition arrives nearly two decades after her death, marking her first institutional presentation in the UK.
The Signal
Pągowska's work is deeply informed by her wartime experiences—she survived the Nazi occupation of Poland and lost her brother in Auschwitz—yet her paintings rarely depict the horrors directly. Instead, she channels psychological tension through distorted figures, muted palettes, and dramatic shadows, as seen in works like 'Kapiel (Bath)' (1974). The exhibition offers UK audiences a long-overdue introduction to an artist whose career spanned teaching at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and a sustained engagement with the female form. For collectors, it signals growing international interest in Eastern European post-war modernism, with Thaddaeus Ropac adding Pągowska to a program that increasingly champions overlooked 20th-century women artists.
- Artists: Teresa Pągowska
- People: Oona Doyle, Waclaw Taranczewski, Marek Edelman, Filip Pągowska
- Galleries: Thaddaeus Ropac
- Locations: London
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