Małgorzata „Kuka” Rittersschild

A graduate of the Painting Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where she studied in Stefan Gierowski’s studio, she received her degree in 1984. In the 1980s, she was part of the artistic milieu associated with the Polish New Expression movement. She made her debut in 1984 with the solo exhibition Good Morning, Goodbye at Galeria Dziekanka in Warsaw. In 1983, while still a student, she participated in one of Gruppa’s first formative exhibitions, A Forest, a Mountain, and a Cloud Above the Mountain (BWA Lublin), followed after graduation by Only Tonight, Darling (BWA Lublin, 1985).

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she regularly exhibited in independent art spaces. In 1986, she took part in two landmark exhibitions of the decade: Expression of the 1980s at BWA Sopot and Bruno Schulz at SARP Warsaw. In the mid-1990s, she decided to put her painting practice on hold in order to pursue paid work and support her family. During this period, she filled dozens of sketchbooks with notes, quotations, observations and ideas. Since returning to her artistic practice in 2018, these quiet archives have provided the source material for many of her paintings.

From her early works of the 1980s to her present-day series, Rittersschild has employed colour as both a constructive and symbolic force. “The colour that guides me through a painting is an event, a function of time and memory, a way of enduring.” For many years, her work remained absent from the official art circuit and was overlooked in critical and historical accounts.