San Francisco Frontiers - Headless sculptures by famed Polish artist go on auction

Abakanowicz, who died in 2017, was best known for the crowds of dozens or even hundreds of towering anonymous headless figures that have previously sold for millions.

Much of her work was born out of the trauma and helplessness she experienced as a child during World War II.

More than 30 pieces from various periods of Abakanowicz's life will be auctioned off in Warsaw.

The centrepiece of the auction -- Caminando, or "walking" in Spanish -- is a crowd of 20 life-sized, hollow bronze figures without heads or arms or gender, each taking a step forward.

"Abakanowicz doesn't impose a narrative. This has a therapeutic effect as it enables you to confront the artwork yourself," said Wiktor Komorowski, curator at the Desa Unicum auction house.

"Which is very topical today, when we're waiting for change and a resolution of certain situations... like the war in Ukraine or the difficult situation in Gaza," he told AFP.

The Caminando sculptures, which previously sold for more than 8 million zloty ($2 million), were once owned by the late comedian Robin Williams and stood in his garden.

Abakanowicz once said that her imposing headless statues stemmed from the "belief that art is not a decoration but a confession, confrontation, warning."

"The terrifying awareness of the crowd who, like a headless organism, destroys or worships on command," she said.

The artist spoke from personal experience, having lived through Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, the bombing of Warsaw and Stalinism.

She was just nine years old when she saw her mother lose a hand to German fire.

For Renata Blazniak-Kuczynska, an Abakanowicz fan who went to see the pieces before the auction, the marching headless figures are disquieting but ultimately optimistic.

"To me, they're saying: I'm a witness of history, I'm going forward," the 49-year-old interior designer told AFP.

"No matter what happens, you have to pick yourself up and focus on what comes next, right? What I can do, what I have control over."

Abakanowicz created more than 1,000 of the striking headless sculptures, including in other mediums like burlap and concrete.

Desa Unicum is also auctioning off rarer works from the artist.

These include paintings and several woven sculptures known as "Abakans", a few of which have never been shown before.

G.Allen--SFF