Dressing Up and Amber Block – Bogdan Mirowski

On 18.05.2023, the grand opening of the exhibition “Dressing Up an Amber Block – Bogdan Mirowski” took place in the Great Refectory.

The prepared exhibition is the next installment of a series of exhibitions, initiated in 2021 at the Castle Museum, presenting the work of contemporary artists creating in amber based on a selection of their most interesting works.

The Malbork amber collection is famous for the works of old amber masters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They showed extraordinary dexterity, accuracy and manual skills, creating precise details in such a very fragile and delicate material. Through the processing techniques used, they were able to bring out the beauty of amber. This group is now joined by a contemporary master – Bogdan Mirowski, to whom this year’s temporary exhibition of amber is dedicated. In his work, he mastered silver processing to perfection, while respecting the amber lump – without interfering with its form. His works are an example of extraordinary craftsmanship, precision, spatial imagination and attention to detail. Bogdan Mirowski was often described as a master of detail, but he was also a master of mindfulness and reflection of human emotions.

The prepared exhibition shows 35 objects. For the first time, the painting “Feast” from the collection of the Castle Museum in Malbork is presented, around which the entire narrative of the exhibition is concentrated. Among the numerous works of the artist, this picture is distinguished by aesthetics, concept.  You can also find here one of the most famous works of the artist – “Amber Nightingales” from the Public Library in Solec Kujawski. Including the first statuette from 1993, which was awarded to Mrs. Irena Santor, who honored the Museum with her presence at the vernissage ceremony. Another interesting object is the Rector’s Insignia of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, a chain and a ring – exceptionally lent to us for the opening evening of the exhibition, by His Magnificence Prof. Jacek Woźny. Next to them, smaller works were shown: jewelry, mainly necklaces and brooches, as well as small sculptural forms, often surprising with the concept, but also with incredible accuracy and dexterity. They come from private collections and are often family and personal souvenirs and are endowed with a special sentiment.

-The Castle Museum in Malbork boasts one of the best amber collections in Europe. A large part of it can be seen at the permanent exhibition “Amber Contexts”. This collection is constantly being expanded by us, and once in a while we present what we do not show every day, by the way paying attention to people who are important for amber craftsmanship and can extract beautiful works of art from this raw material. We are opening such an exhibition today, presenting the works of a man who brought this craft to the highest possible level. – said PhD. Janusz Trupinda, director of the Castle Museum in Malbork, during the vernissage.

The presented exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity to see the works of Bogdan Mirowski, which met in this configuration, in one place, at the castle in Malbork and accompany the brilliant amber products of the past. Let the path of master Mirowski’s works be similar, so that in future generations it will be considered an example of amber maker and goldsmith mastery at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The exhibition will be on display until the end of September 2023
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