Maria Pinińska-Bereś—The Artist Who Made Pink Feminist

Maria Pinińska-Bereś—the Beginning of an Artistic Career

Maria Pinińska-Bereś was born in 1931 in Poznań, Poland. Her early childhood was more than comfortable due to her family’s aristocratic background. Unfortunately, the years of World War II came with many difficulties. In 1940, her father was arrested and sent into a war camp in Russia. Five years later, the remaining family members were imprisoned and taken to a concentration camp in Świętochłowice-Zgoda. Pinińska went through a severe case of typhus, but thankfully was released from the camp before it got too late.

After the war she enrolled in the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, where women had been allowed to study from 1919. Pinińska began her work towards becoming an artist in the sculpture studio of Xawery Dunikowski, a renowned Polish artist. Jerzy Bereś, whom she married in 1957, attended the same studio.

1. Machine of Love, 1969

The sculptures of Pinińska-Bereś are unlike any other that were being produced in Poland at the time. In the works from the 1960s she focused on the subject of the female body and eroticism, which can be seen very clearly in the Machine of Love (1969).

The sculpture consists of a white rectangular table with four legs, resembling a pool table because of its nook in the top. In the nook, the artist placed forms that resemble a female body—breasts and a structure that represents the vagina, as well as a red phallic object symbolizing the male sexual organ. At the top of the table, the sculptress placed three female legs also made from wood, which are connected to a crank. The crank can be moved around to set the legs and the phallic object inside the sculpture in motion, making this a participatory work.

In the exhibition catalog, Agata Jakubowska explains the approach towards female sexuality and eroticism in 1960s Poland. It was a time of the beginnings of sexology. The scholar admits there was an interest in the female sexual experience, however nearly all publications on the topic were lacking any visual representations. What is the reason behind it? Well, the communist-era sexologists apparently did not manage to produce any images that would not be reminiscent of the Western imagery that was considered to be too erotic behind the Iron Curtain.

Given the context in which Pinińska-Bereś was creating, we can understand why she decided not to showcase the Machine of Love in her first solo exhibition in 1970 in Kraków.

2. My Enchanting Little Room, 1975

As mentioned, Pinińska-Bereś is perhaps best-known for her soft sculptures. The sewn works that resemble pillows, duvets, comforters—anything that can be found on a comfy bed or a sofa. In my understanding, by using these objects the artist was trying to change the way viewers might see women’s role in the society. Today, in the modern world, a woman is not only responsible for taking care of the household and birthing children; women and their attributes left the house and are very busy with changing the world!

My Enchanting Little Room (1975) is a sculptural installation representing a room missing one wall, allowing us to peek inside. The work is kept in very limited color palette—white and light pink. The artist placed several sewn objects that we could indeed imagine finding in her room. At first glance the work is approachable, since we have the feeling that we can look inside the room. However, Pinińska-Bereś placed a string across the two opposite walls in order to discourage anyone from “entering” her space.

The title of the work immediately brings to mind Virginia Woolf’s seminal essay A Room of One’s Own. The text came out in 1929, but it was only published in Poland in 1997. Nevertheless, I am almost certain that Pinińska-Bereś would agree with Woolf and her premise that a woman cannot create unless she has a space of her own (both mentally and physically).

3. Venus of the Sea Foam, 1977

Maria Pinińska-Bereś often played with different references; for instance, in Venus of the Sea Foam (1977) she referenced one of the most iconic art historical references. When seeing this title one might think of Botticelli’s masterpiece from the Renaissance period, The Birth of Venus (c. 1480). A beautiful woman is born out of delicate and ephemeral sea foam. However, that is not what Pinińska-Bereś had in mind!

In her pink sculpture the sea is symbolically represented by waves that look as though they could have been shaped by a child and Venus is a triangular soft sculpture resembling a pillow. Slightly less dignified? Possibly. A more provocative view on the topic? Definitely.

4. The Banner, 1980

Pinińska-Bereś began her performance actions in the 1970s. As her sculptures grew bigger in size, so did her artistic ideas. She carried out The Banner in the Fields of Prądnik in Kraków, Poland, in the winter of 1980. For this performance she dressed in a remarkable outfit—a long pink coat with a white hat covering a pink headscarf. She looked like a living version of one of her own sculptures. The artist described her own action as follows:

Naturally, now we can only see the photos from the performance. Many of her artistic actions were carried out in nature, in the spirit of Land Art. It is possible that she was interested in these types of actions because they were unlikely to be seen as threatening by the government. What is more, the authorities wouldn’t consider them as art at all.

5. Mme Recamier, 1991

In the last period of her life, Maria Pinińska-Bereś continued working in different media. She was still performing artistic actions and making sculptures. One of them, Mme Recamier (1991), is another social commentary made through an art historical reference. The sculpture consists of two parts, a vertical pole and a horizontal construction resembling a chaise longue.

As the title and the composition indicate it is a variation on the Portrait of Madame Récamier by Jacques-Louis David. Juliette Récamier (1777–1849) was a socialite and is today considered the icon of French Neoclassicism. She was thought of the most beautiful woman in Paris and the type of sofa on which she poses was named after her.

Pinińska-Bereś did not include any human-like elements in her sculpture, but she placed a mirror, where the woman’s face would normally appear. This means the viewer can see their own face when looking at the work. By looking into the mirror, we can reflect on how it could feel to place ourselves in the shoes of a woman like Récamier.

Pinińska-Bereś passed away in 1999. Sadly, she never received a museum retrospective during her lifetime. Her art entered the feminist genre alongside other artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Ewa Partum, Sarah Lucas, and Tracey Emin. Thankfully, her legacy is now beginning to be widely celebrated with exhibitions such as the one in The Hague.

Maria Pinińska-Bereś is on view at the Kunstmuseum den Haag in The Hague until August 17, 2025. The exhibition is a cooperation between the National Museum Wroclaw in Poland, the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig in Germany and Kunstmuseum Den Haag.