ARTISTS’ ARCHIVES

Artists’ Archives: Digitization, Preservation and Public Access to the Collections of A. Buczkowska, Z. Glazer, L. Mikołajewska and M. Rittersschild, Accompanied by an Educational Programme

In 2026, the Arton Foundation is implementing the project Artists’ Archives: Digitization, Preservation and Public Access to the Collections of A. Buczkowska, Z. Glazer, L. Mikołajewska and M. Rittersschild, Accompanied by an Educational Programme. The project aims to catalogue, digitize and make accessible the archives of four outstanding artists who made their artistic debut in the 1970s and the early 1980s: Anna Buczkowska, Zofia Glazer-Rudzińska, Liliana Mikołajewska-Jansen and Małgorzata Rittersschild.

Approximately 3,200 objects from the private archives of these prominent artists will be digitized. The materials will be made available through the international Forgotten Heritage database, while their digital copies will be preserved by the National Digital Archives and the National Institute for Museums.
The project also includes an educational programme consisting of archival workshops and a conference devoted to strategies and methods for researching, cataloguing and providing access to the work of women artists active during the 1980s.

Subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – dedicated state fund.

Anna Buczkowska (1943–2026)
From 1965 to 1971, she studied at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in the studios of: E. Eibisch, S. Gierowski, J. Jurkiewicz, A. Śledziewska, W. Sadley and M. Szymański. She was the artistic manager of the Tapestry and Carpet Studio of the Artists' Cooperative “Ład” (1972-1975), ran the tapestry studio of the Gala company (1989-1991) and worked as a teacher at the Cultural Centre in Konstancin (1993-1997). In her work, she primarily uses the medium of artistic textiles. The technique she uses involves spinning wool by hand and using natural dyes. In her early works she uses geometric, abstract forms, later creating conceptual and even hyperrealistic works. Painting and drawing form an important part of her work. She lives and works in Konstancin-Jeziorna. Her works can be found in the collections of, among others: The National Museum and the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw, the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, the Nordiska museet in Stockholm.

Zofia Glazer-Rudzińska (1950–2017)
Painter, printmaker, draughtswoman, and author of spatial forms and bibliophile editions of poetry. A graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, she completed her diploma with distinction in the lithography studio in 1974. From 1975 onward, she was affiliated with her alma mater, where she progressed through all stages of an academic career – from assistant to Professor Jerzy Tchórzewski to full professor (1997). Between 1996 and 1999, she served as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Sculpture, and from 1995 to 2017, she headed the Drawing Studio at the same faculty. She also taught drawing at the State Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw (1990–1992). She created numerous series of lithographs, including Crabs, Cathedral, Learning to Fly, Portraits, Salon and Landscape. Her black-and-white lithographs featuring hand motifs were distinguished by their intuitive formal power. Glazer-Rudzińska produced several bibliophile editions, illustrating poetry by Dylan Thomas, Paul Éluard, T.S. Eliot, Józef Baran and Anna Kamieńska. An active participant in both artistic and academic life, she was a long-standing juror for the National Competition for Art Schools. She enjoyed great respect among students and within the academic community.

Liliana Mikołajewska-Jansen (1955–1981)
She began her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in the autumn of 1974. In February the following year she left for Belgium. She studied painting for a year at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and from 1976 sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berchem, while also working extensively in her own studio. In 1977 she enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, where she graduated in 1980. During her lifetime she held only one solo exhibition, in Schoonaarde. Posthumously, in 1981, she was awarded the first Prize in the Competition for Young Belgian Painters, and her works were presented at the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels. Subsequently, they were exhibited at the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź (1984) and CBWA Zachęta in Warsaw (1985–1986).

Małgorzata Rittersschild (b. 1960)
She studied in the studio of Professor Stefan Gierowski at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1979–1984). In the 1980s, she co-created the artistic milieu of Polish Neo-Expressionism. She took part in the formative exhibitions of the Gruppa collective: Las, góra, a nad górą chmura (Forest, Mountain, and Above the Mountain a Cloud, BWA Gallery, Lublin, 1983) and Tylko dzisiaj wieczorem, kochanie (Only Tonight, Darling, BWA Gallery, Lublin, 1985). In the 1990s, she suspended her artistic practice for over two decades, working in various fields including illustration, graphic design, styling, translation, editing, teaching, and art therapy. During that time, she created several dozen sketchbook-notebooks. In 2018, she returned to her artistic career.