Maria Papa Rostkowska Polish, 1923-2008

  • Overview
    Maria Papa Rostkowska, Henraux marble workshop, Querceta, Italy, c. 1970. Photo: Jean Ferrero
    Maria Papa Rostkowska, Henraux marble workshop, Querceta, Italy, c. 1970. Photo: Jean Ferrero

    Maria Papa Rostkowska is an Italian-Polish sculptor known mainly for her marble works, some of which are monumental and visible in public spaces across Europe. After escaping the camps and the war, she left Poland to live and work between France and Italy.

  • Works
  • Video
  • Exhibitions
  • Publications
  • Biography
    Maria Papa Rostkowska, Paris, 1957
    Maria Papa Rostkowska, Paris, 1957

    YOUTH AND RESISTANCE

    Maria Papa Rostkowska (née Baranowska) was born on 4 July 1923 in Brwinów, in the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland. The youngest of four girls, she had just begun studying technical drawing and architecture at Jastrzebowski High School when the Second World War broke out.

    In 1943, Maria Baranowska married Ludwik Rostkowski Jr., a Polish politician. Together, they joined the armed resistance and, with Ludwik’s father, Dr. Ludwik Rostkowski Sr. (a founding member of Zegota, an underground Polish resistance organisation to aid Jews), Maria Rostkowska helped rescue Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. Ludwik Rostkowski Jr. was posthumously awarded the Righteous Among the Nations Medal.

    After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising on 1 August 1944, Maria Rostkowska became an active member of the resistance and took part in the fighting against the Germans. She was arrested and put on a transport to Auschwitz. She was able to escape deportation, however, and returned to a devastated Warsaw. After liberation, she was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari for her actions during the war. In 1945, she gave birth to her only son, Nicolas Rostkowski.

     

    RECOGNITION IN POLAND

    In 1947, Maria Rostkowska resumed her studies and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. After winning a scholarship from the Polish government, which was extended by UNESCO and the French government, she went to Paris, where she devoted herself to drawing and painting. Returning to Poland in 1950, she taught painting in Gdansk, and then in Warsaw. She regularly exhibited her works, which were in the socialist realist style. Most of these paintings are now kept at the Museum of Socialist Realism in Kozlówka.

    Maria Rostkowska left Warsaw in 1950, in the wake of a wave of Stalinist repression that claimed the life of Ludwik Rostkowski Jr., a political activist and vice president of the Democratic Youth. She was accepted to the position of assistant at the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Sopot. Then, in 1953, Maria Papa was appointed Associate Professor at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Taking part in numerous exhibitions in Poland, the artist won a number of awards for her work. She was awarded the Polish State Art Prize for the large-scale mural decorations that she had created in 1954 in the old town of Lublin. The following year, in 1955, she received the prize once again for her painting La Silésienne.

     

    MOVING TO PARIS AND SCULPTURE

    The Exhibition of Young Artists held at the Arsenal Gallery in Warsaw in 1955 was a major post-war event in Poland, marking the end of socialist realism in Polish art. It was there that Maria Rostkowska, who was exhibiting her self-portrait at the event, met the French painter Édouard Pignon. At the latter’s invitation, Maria Rostkowska moved to Paris in 1957. The French capital became her permanent home and the city she would hold most dear. A year later, she married Gualtieri Papa di San Lazzaro, a prominent Italian art critic, writer and journalist. He was also the founder of the art journal XXe Siècle and the eponymous gallery in Paris. They chose the writer Pierre Volboudt and the painter Serge Poliakoff to be the witnesses at their wedding.

    In the summer of 1958, Maria Papa discovered the world of ceramics in Albisola, an Italian village renowned for its artistic community, which had gathered around the futurist ceramicist and poet Tullio Mazzotti. In Albisola, she worked with renowned artists such as Giuseppe Capogrossi, César, Roberto Crippa, Agenore Fabbri, Lucio Fontana, Asger Jorn, Wifredo Lam, Piero Manzoni and Milena Milani. Her creations, terracotta sculptures and bas-reliefs, were exhibited by the art dealer Carlo Cardazzo in his Galleria del Naviglio in Milan.

    In Paris, Maria Papa Rostkowska produced several bronze castings and actively participated in numerous salons and exhibitions, exhibiting notably at the Salon de la Jeune Sculpture in 1961, 1962 and 1963. She forged friendships with a multitude of influential artists, including the painters Anna-Eva Bergman and Hans Hartung, Marc Chagall, Olivier Debré, Sonia Delaunay, Natalia Dumitresco and Alexandre Istrati, Maurice Estève, Robert Helman, Ladislas Kijno, Arika Madeyska, Alberto Magnelli, Joan Miró, Zoran Music, Édouard Pignon, Serge Poliakoff and Pierre Soulages. She was also associated with the sculptors Jean Arp, César, Émile Gilioli, Frans Krajcberg, Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Alicia Penalba, Ilio Signori and Alina Szapocznikow, as well as the writers Emil Cioran, Eugène Ionesco, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Adolf Rudnicki, André Verdet, and Cesare Zavattini, and the film director Vittorio de Sica. In 1959, her son Nicolas joined her in Paris. Maria Papa Rostkowska then began to work back and forth between Albisola and Paris; in the latter, she used the studio of the sculptor Émile Gilioli.

     

    CHOOSING MARBLE

    In the mid-1960s, following the advice of Jean Arp, Gigi Guadagnucci and Marino Marini, Maria Papa began exploring the direct carving of marble, which became her preferred medium. In 1966, she was invited to participate in the Marble Symposium organised by the Henraux marble works in Querceta, Italy. She set up her studio there, near Pietrasanta, close to the Monte Altissimo and Carrara quarries. In the same year, she received an award from the William and Noma Copley Foundation for sculpture. This honour was also bestowed upon Alina Szapocznikow, making them the only two Polish artists to have been awarded the distinction. This marked the beginning of a prolific period during which Maria Papa created a wide range of marble and stone sculptures, from monumental works to more intimate pieces.

    In 1968, her son Nicolas married Joëlle Ribert, who would go on to become an ethnologist with a passion for travel and comparative religion. Through their influence, Maria Papa travelled extensively, discovering the United States (1970), India (1979) and Iran (1973). In 1973, she travelled to Tehran at the invitation of Farah Diba, wife of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. She would later exhibit her work in Russia, at the Hermitage Museum. Gualtieri di San Lazzaro passed away in Paris on 8 September 1974. He was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery, where Maria Papa laid a marble version of her Le Guerrier work on his grave.

    After a thirty-four-year absence, Maria Papa presented her works in Poland in 1991, as part of a group exhibition of émigré artists at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. In 1993, she recorded a series of interviews with a journalist, which were broadcast on Polish National Radio. In 1994, she returned to Poland for the first time since her departure in 1957; this would also be her final trip to her native country. The following year, a documentary film dedicated to her was broadcast on Polish national television. Entitled “Woman and Marble”, it showed her sculpting La Promesse de bonheur, a 3-metre-high work that now adorns the French National Assembly in the Palais Bourbon in Paris.

    Throughout her life, Maria Papa Rostkowska took part in over one hundred solo and group exhibitions. Notable venues included Carlo and Renato Cardazzo’s Galleria del Naviglio in Milan, the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice and the Galerie XXe Siècle in Paris, as well as various Parisian salons. Her works have come to form a valuable part of numerous private and public collections in France, the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Japan. Several of her sculptures and bas-reliefs can be found gracing European cities, including Paris and Warsaw.

    During the 1990s, Maria Papa continued to create marble works that were true odes to life, joy and family. Although she suffered a stroke in 2001, she continued her work on small-scale marble pieces until she passed away in Lido di Camaiore, Italy, in 2008. In June 2009, three of her monumental sculptures, Le Baiser, Le Lion and La Donna seduta, were donated to the Polish State by Nicolas Rostkowski. They now adorn the grounds of the National Museum of Poland in Warsaw.

    In 2011, the monumental version of La Promesse de bonheur, which was a gift from Nicolas and Joëlle Rostkowski, was unveiled at the French National Assembly, inside the Palais Bourbon, opposite the entrance to the “hemicycle” chamber. The then President of the French Parliament, Bernard Accoyer, paid tribute to Maria Papa Rostkowska, describing her as “French at heart”.

    Nicolas and Joëlle Rostkowski went on to donate more sculptures to Polish institutions: in 2014, the large sculpture Venus bionda was placed at the entrance to the Museum of Sculpture at the Królikarnia Palace. Two other sculptures, Le Guerrier and Mère et l’enfant, were installed in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, in the orangery and reception room, respectively. Finally, the monumental sculpture La Fontaine de bonheur was installed at the Polish Library in Paris in 2015.

  • COLLECTIONS (SELECTION)

    France

    Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon

    Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble

    Musée de l’Hospice Saint-Roch d’Issoudun, Issoudun

    Musée de Menton, Menton

    Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Meudon

    Musée Despiau-Wlérick, Mont de Marsan

    Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes

    Palais Bourbon Assemblée Nationale, Paris

    Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris (on deposit at the Consulate General of France, Houston, TX)

    Musée de la sculpture en plein air, Paris

    Bibliothèque Polonaise, Paris

    Fondation de Coubertin, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse

     

    Italy

    University of Milan, Milan

    Banca Intesa, Milan

    International Contemporary Sculpture Park, Pietrasanta

    Henraux Foundation, Querceta

     

    Poland

    Wawel Royal Castle, Krakow

    National Museum, Lublin

    Centre of Polish Sculpture, Oronsko

    Sopot City Hall, Sopot

    Presidential Palace, Warsaw

    National Museum, Warsaw

    Lazienki Royal Palace, Warsaw

  • EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

    Group exhibition, Les Arts visuels en défense de la paix, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1950

    Group exhibition, 4th Sopot Art Festival: Visual Arts Championing Peace, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1951

    Group exhibition, 2nd National Visual Arts Exhibition. Painting, sculpture, architecture., Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1951

    Group exhibition, Exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Polish Workers' Party, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1952

    Group exhibition, 3rd National Visual Arts Exhibition, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1952

    Group exhibition, Exhibition by the Warsaw Section of the Association of Polish Artists and Designers, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1953

    Group exhibition, 4th National Visual Arts Exhibition, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1954

    Group exhibition, 5th Exhibition of the Warsaw Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts Section, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 1954

    National Exhibition of Young Visual Artists: Against War – Against Fascism, Arsenal, Warsaw, Poland, 1955

    Group exhibition, 6th Exhibition of the Warsaw Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts Section, Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland, 1955

    Group exhibition, Junge Generation. Polnische Kunstausstellung: Malerei, Bildhauerei, Plastik, Berlin, Germany, 1956

    Solo exhibition, Bassorilievi in ​​terracotta, Albisola, Italy, 1959

    Solo exhibition, La Donna nell’arte contemporeanea, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1959

    11e Salon de la jeune sculpture, Jardins du Musée Rodin, Paris, France, 1959

    Solo exhibition, Formes et reliefs, Galerie XXe Siècle, Paris, France, 1960

    12e Salon de la jeune sculpture, Jardins du Musée Rodin, Paris, France, 1960

    13e Salon de la jeune sculpture, Jardins du Musée Rodin, Paris, France, 1961

    Salon Comparaisons, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1961

    Solo exhibition, Galleria da Pescetto, Albisola, Italy, 1961

    Solo exhibition, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1961

    Salon Comparaisons, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1961

    Solo exhibition, Formes et reliefs II, Galerie XXe Siècle, Paris, France, 1962

    Group exhibition, Collettiva femminile di pittura e scultura : Dadamaino, Maria Papa Rostkowska, Galleria da Pescetto, Albisola, Italy, 1962

    Solo exhibition, Galleria da Pescetto, Albisola, Italy, 1962

    Galleria della Palma Punto 3, Albisola, Italy, 1962

    Group exhibition, Peintures, sculptures, dessins, Vallauris, Galerie Cavalero, Cannes, France, 1962

    Salon Comparaisons, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1962

    Punta San Martino di Arenzano – Galleria del Sole al Portichetto, third edition of "Arte rivolta alle stelle" with the participation of Crippa, Capogrossi, Fontana, Fabbri, Maria Papa Rostkowska, Dadamaino, 1962

    Group exhibition, Krit-Punto 2, Virreina Palace, Barcelona, Spain, 1962

    Salon Comparaisons, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1963

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1963

    Salon de la jeune sculpture, Jardins du Musée Rodin, Paris, France, 1963

    Solo exhibition, Sculpture champêtre, American Center, Paris, France, 1963

    Group exhibition, Albisola 63, Galleria da Pescetto, Albisola, Italy, 1963

    18e Salon des Réalités nouvelles, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1963

    V Concorso Internazionale del Bronzetto, Sala della Ragione, Padua, Italy, 1963

    Group exhibition, Terza edizione Arte rivolta alle stelle, exhibition participants: Crippa, Capogrossi, Fontana, Fabbri, Maria Papa Rostkowska, Dadamaino, Galleria del Sole al Portichetto, Punta San Martino di Arenzano, Italy, 1963

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1964

    Group exhibition, Le Fantastique dans l’Art, Galerie Creuzevault, Paris, France, 1964

    Group exhibition, Albisola, Galleria da Pescetto, Albisola, Italy, 1964

    Salon des Réalités nouvelles, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1964

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1965

    Group exhibition, Peintures, sculptures, objets, Galerie Creuzevault, Paris, France, 1965

    Salon des Réalités nouvelles, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1965

    Group exhibition, La Main, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, France, 1965

    Group exhibition, Sous le signe de Pausias, Galerie XXe Siècle, Paris, France, 1965

    Group exhibition, Donner à voir, Galleria da Pescetto, Albisola, Italy, 1965

    Prix Nelson William Copley pour la sculpture, Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1966

    International Pilot Galleries Salon, Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1966

    Group exhibition, International Marble Exhibition, Museo Civico del Marmo, Carrara, Italy, 1966

    Group exhibition, La petite Sculpture, Galerie Maywald, Paris, France, 1966

    Group exhibition, Galerie Moni Galatchi, Paris, France, 1966

    Group exhibition, Symposium Du Marbre, Henraux Marble Works, Querceta, Italy, 1966

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1966

    Solo exhibition, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1967

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1967

    Salon des Réalités nouvelles, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1967

    Group exhibition, Le Portrait, Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, France, 1967

    5ª Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, Carrara, Italy, 1967

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1968

    Group exhibition, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1968

    Group exhibition, Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy, 1968

    Solo exhibition, Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy, 1968

    6ª Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, Carrara, Italy, 1968

    Salon de Mai,Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1969

    Peintres et sculpteurs italiens à Paris, International Arts Festival, Menton, France, 1969

    7ª Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, Carrara, Italy, 1969

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1970

    Peintres et sculpteurs italiens à Paris, International Arts Festival, Menton, France, 1970

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1971

    Solo exhibition, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1972

    Solo exhibition, Galerie XXe Siècle, Paris, France, 1972

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1972

    Solo exhibition, Marbres 1969-1972, Galerie Mony Calatchi, Paris, France, 1972

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1973

    8ª Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, Carrara, Italy, 1973

    Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, Ferrara, Italy, 1973

    Mostra Raccolta di Sculture della Società Henraux, Henraux Marble Works, Querceta, Italy, 1973

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1974

    Xe Biennale Internationale d’Art, Menton, France, 1974

    VIII Mostra Collettiva di Città di Massa, Massa, Italy, 1974

    Group exhibition, Les Sculpteurs italiens à Paris, Italian Cultural Institute, Paris, France, 1974

    Group exhibition, Prima Collettiva della Scultura in Versilia, Querceta, Italy, 1974

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1975

    Chevaux Sculptés, Château de Fontaine-Henry, France, 1975

    L’Arte nella riviera di Ponente, Mostra AICS (Associazione Italiana Culturale Sport), Savona, Italy, 1976

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1976

    Grand Prix International d’Art Contemporain, Monte Carlo Auditorium Convention Center, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1976

    XVI Mostra della Ceramicha, Castellamonte, Italy, 1976

    XIIe Biennale Internationale d’Art, Menton, France, 1976

    Rassegna, Mostra Internazionale della Ceramica, Albisola, Italy, 1976

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1977

    Solo exhibition, Mostra al femminile, Galleria Regis, Finale Ligure, Italy, 1977

    Prima mostra collettiva di ceramica, Estate 1977, Albisola, Italy, 1977

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1978

    Première Triennale européenne de la Sculpture, Jardins du Palais-Royal, Paris, France, 1978

    Mostra Estiva delle Sculture, Seravezza, Italy, 1978

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1979

    Italian Cultural Institute, Paris, France, 1979

    IV Biennale Internazionale Dantesca a Ravenna, Centro Dantesco Dei Frati Minori Conventuali, Ravenna, Italy, 1979

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1980

    Group exhibition, Exposition au profit de la Ligue contre le Cancer, Espace Cardin, Paris, France, 1980

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1981

    II Trienale de la sculpture, Grand Palais, Paris, France, 1981

    Premio di ceramica Bianco, Albissola Marina, Italy, 1981

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1982

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1983

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1984

    Group exhibition of sculptures, La Donna Creativa, L. Russo Cultural Center, Convent of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy, 1984

    Solo exhibition, Convent of Sant'Agostino, Loano, Italy, 1984

    Salon d’Automne, Grand Palais, Paris, France, 1984

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1985

    Solo exhibition, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1985

    IIIe Triennale Européenne de sculpture, Bourdelle Museum, Paris, France, 1985

    Sculture di Passagi, Villa Giorgini Schiff, Montignoso, Italy, 1985

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1986

    Solo exhibition, Galleria Farsetti, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, 1986

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1987

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1988

    Group exhibition, I Disegni degli scultori, Convent of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy, 1988

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1989

    Group exhibition, Les Choix d’un amateur (Maria Papa, Anita da Caro et Roger Vieillard), Arts and Leisure Center of Le Vésinet, Le Vésinet, France, 1989

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1990

    Solo exhibition, Scultura ad Femminile, Studio d’Arte La Subbia, Lido di Camaiore, Italy, 1990

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1991

    International Sculpture Triennial, Cultural Foundation, Osaka, Japan, 1991

    Solo exhibition, Galleria Subbia, Lido di Camaiore, Italy, 1991

    Group exhibition, Nous sommes présents, Zachęta National Museum, Warsaw, Poland, 1991

    Solo exhibition, Galerie Françoise Moulin, Lyon, France, 1991

    Salon de Mai, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1992

    Group exhibition, Galleria Poleschi, Forte dei Marmi, Italy, 1992

    International Sculpture Triennial, Cultural Foundation, Osaka, Japan, 1993

    Group exhibition, Galerie Poleschi, Forte dei Marmi, Italy, 1993

    Group exhibition, Galleria Subbia, Lido di Camaiore, Italy, 1993

    Group exhibition, Galerie Françoise Moulin, Lyon, France, 1993

    Group exhibition, Galerie Yves Lebouc, Paris, France, 1993

    Group exhibition, Galerie Bourdon, Paris, France, 1993

    Solo exhibition, Promesse de Bonheur, Galerie Point JAL, Paris, France, 1994

    Solo exhibition, Arika Madeyska, Painting. Maria Papa, Sculpture, Galerie Ars Polona, Warsaw, Poland, 1994

    Group exhibition, Galerie Art Public, Paris, France, 1994

    International Triennial of SACRUM Art, Częstochowa, Poland, 1994

    Solo exhibition, Convent of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy, 1995

    Group exhibition, Sacrum, Lourdes, France, 1995

    International Sculpture Triennial, Cultural Foundation, Osaka, Japan, 1995

    Group exhibition, Occhi aperti, Convent of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy, 1995

    Group exhibition, Situazioni sculture, Ducal Palace, Lucca, Italy, 1996

    Group exhibition, Le Sembianze del mito sculture, San Giovanni in Persiceto, Italy, 1996

    VIII Biennale Internazionale di Scultura, Carrara, Italy, 1996

    Group exhibition, Forma felice, Museo Pianeta Azzurro, International Sculpture Center, Fregene, Italy, 1996

    Group exhibition, Ca la Ghironda Cultural Center, Ponte Ronca di Zola Predosa, Italy

    Group exhibition, Galeria Contraste, Forte dei Marmi, Italy, 1996

    International group exhibition, Piazza del Duomo, Pietrasanta, Italy, 1997

    International sculpture exhibition, Artisti ed artigiani a Pietrasanta, Staggio Staggi State Art Institute, Pontestrada, Italy, 1997

    Group exhibition, Luigi Rosso Cultural Center, Pietrasanta, Italy, 1997

    Group exhibition, Living language of Sculpture, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1998

    Solo exhibition, Caresses du temps, Galerie Orenda, Paris, France, 2008

    Group exhibition, Les Talents venus de l’Est : ceux qui ont choisi l’Art à Paris, Galerie Orenda, Paris, France, 2009

    Group exhibition, Les Talents venus de l’Est : ceux qui ont choisi l’Art à Paris, Galerie Metro-Tamka, Warsaw, Poland, 2009

    Solo exhibition, Omaggio a Maria Papa, Museo dei Bozzeti, Pietrasanta, Italy, 2009

    Group exhibition, Michelangelo and his descendants, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, United States, 2009

    Solo exhibition, Spazio Tadini Casa Museo, Milan, Italy, 2009

    Solo exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska: Sculpture. Edith-Laure Rostkowski: Artistic jewelry, Galeria Napiorkowska, Warsaw, Poland, 2010

    Group exhibition, Signe et Matière, (with Caroline de Boissieu and Paolo Valle), Galerie Orenda, Paris, France, 2010

    Retrospettiva dell'opera di Maria Papa, Galleria Stefano Cortina, Milan, Italy, 2012

    Retrospettiva sui marmi di Maria Papa, Stefano Cortina Gallery, Milan, Italy, 2012

    Group exhibition, Donne e Arte. Omaggio a Maria Papa, Convent of Sant'Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy, 2012

    Retrospective exhibition, Woman of marble, National Museum of Poland, Królikarnia Palace, Warsaw, Poland, 2014

    Group exhibition, Michelangelo e la Versilia, Italian Cultural Institute of New York, New York, NY, 2015

    Group exhibition, Pureté de la ligne (Maria Papa and Dadamaino), Galerie Orenda, Paris, France, 2015

    Solo exhibition, Femme de marbre, Polish Library, Paris, France, 2015

    Group exhibition, Jubilée, National Museum of Poland, Warsaw, Poland, 2016

    Solo exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska e i suoi amici, Cascina Roma Museum of Contemporary Art, San Donato Milanese, Italy, 2017

    Group exhibition, Jean Arp and Poland, National Museum in Poznań, Poznań, Poland, 2017

    Solo exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska, Renzo Cortina Cultural Association, Milan, Italy, 2017

    Group exhibition, Serge Poliakoff et ses amis, Galerie Pixi, Paris, France, 2018

    Retrospective exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska et ses amis de l’École de Paris. Hommage à la Revue XXe Siècle, (Poliakoff, Esteve, Pignon, Miro, Chagall, Fontana, Magnelli…), Museum of the Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun, 2020

    Solo exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska et ses affinités artistiques – Jean Arp, Émile Gilioli et Marino Marini, Museum of Art and History of Meudon, Meudon, France, 2022

    Solo exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska, the haptic resonance of matter, Polish Sculpture Center, Orońsko, Poland, 2023

    Solo exhibition, A promise of happiness, Royal Castle Museum, Warsaw, Poland, 2023

    Wifredo Lam e i maghi del mare, Ceramics Museum, Savona, Italy, 2023

    Solo exhibition, La Sculptrice à rencontre du marbre, Coubertin Foundation, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, France, 2024

    Solo exhibition, La Forza del destino, Museum of the City of Pietrasanta, Italy, 2025

    Solo exhibition, Maria Papa Rostkowska & Wifredo Lam, Imaginaires croisés – Albisola et au-delà, Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, France, 2026

    Group exhibition, Astratto Organico (Henry Moore, Agustín Càrdenas, Antoine Poncet, Alberto Viani, Alicia Penalba and Maria Papa Rostkowska), Gigi Guadagnucci Museum, Massa MS, Italy, 2026

  • Bibliography
    Maria Papa Rostkowska in Tullio Mazzotti's workshop, Albisola, Italy, 1960. Rostkowski family archives
    Maria Papa Rostkowska in Tullio Mazzotti's workshop, Albisola, Italy, 1960. Rostkowski family archives

    Luca Pietro Nicoletti, Maria Papa : Un destino europeo, monographie trilingue (italien, français, anglais), Milan, Cortina Arte et Paris, Orenda Art international, 2009

     

    Bruno Botella, Petits secrets et grands privilèges de l’Assemblée nationale, Paris, Éditions du moment, 2013

     

    Aleksandra Sobczak-Kövesi, Maria Papa Rostkowska - Woman of Marble, Varsovie, Musée national, 2014

     

    Flaminio Gualdoni et Nicolas Rostkowski, Dadamaino, Maria Papa Rostkowska, Milan, Cortina Arte, 2015

     

    Stefano Cortina, Joëlle Rostkowski et Agnieszka Tarasiuk, Maria Papa Rostkowska - La passion de la sculpture, Paris, Société Historique et Littéraire Polonaise de Paris, 2015

     

    Marco Meneguzzo, Lydia Harambourg, Agnieszka Tarasiuk, Stefano Cortina, Massimo Mallegni, Maria Papa Rostkowska; Le opere, gli amici, i luoghi, Milan, Cortina Arte, 2017

     

    Lydia Harambourg, Patrice Moreau et Nicolas Rostkowski, Maria Papa Rostkowska - Une sculptrice au cœur de la Nouvelle École de Paris, Issoudun, Musée Saint Roch, 2020

     

    Lydia Harambourg, Marianne Lombardi, Ewa Ziembinska, Agnieszka Tarasiuk et Nicolas

    Rostkowski, Jean Arp, Emile Gilioli, Marino Marini, Maria Papa Rostkowska et ses affinités artistiques, cat. exp., Musée d’art et d’histoire de Meudon, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana Editoriale, 2022

     

    Lara Conte, « Female sculptors at Henraux in the Sixties », Marmo, avril 2023

     

    Maciej Aleksandrowicz, Marta Smolinska, Ursula Strobele, Burcu Dogramaci, Lydia Harambourg et un entretien avec Nicolas et Joëlle Rostkowski, The haptic resonance of the matter: Maria Papa Rostkowska and female guests on the centenary of the Artist’s birth, Oronsko, Centrum Rzezby Polskiej, 2023

     

    Sous la direction de Malgorzata Maria Grabczewska, textes de Marianna Otmianowska et Joëlle Rostkowski, The Promise of Happiness - Maria Papa Rostkowska, Varsovie, Éditions Lazienki Krolewskie, 2023

     

    Alexandra Merieux, Lydia Harambourg, Lara Conte et Nicolas Rostkowski, Maria Papa Rostkowska -Sculptrice à la rencontre du marbre, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, Fondation de Coubertin, 2024

     

    Nicolas Rostkowski et Lydia Harambourg, MARIA PAPA ROSTKOWSKA & WIFREDO LAM, Imaginaires croisés – Albisola et au-delà, cat. exp., Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, 2026