Tapta

This book is a comprehensive tribute to the Polish-Belgian artist Tapta (Maria Wierusz-Kowalska). Her work transcends traditional artistic boundaries, captivating audiences with her innovative exploration of fluid spaces and dynamic interactions. Her work, an important contribution to twentieth century sculpture, is essentially divided into two major sections: the textile works of the 1960s to 1980s and the subsequent neoprene works of the last years of her life. Her practice moved away from traditional weaving through experimental techniques and evolved into three-dimensional works—first made of cords, then of neoprene sheets—that interacted with the space and the viewer. TAPTA (1926-1997) was born in Poland and came to Belgium as a political refugee with her husband, Krzysztof Wierusz-Kowalski, after taking part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. She studied weaving at the La Cambre National School of Visual Arts, Brussels, from where she graduated in 1949. Shortly afterwards, the couple moved to the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), where they lived from 1950 to 1960. On their return to Belgium in 1960, until her sudden death in 1997, she worked in Brussels as an artist and—from 1976 until 1990—as a professor at La Cambre.