Portrait of the writers Anna Kowalska and Maria Dąbrowska, made using the intarsia method from poplar burl veneer shaped into a circle, with radiating quotations from their love letters written on the fabric.
The letters sent between the two writers form an epistolary archive of their long-lasting relationship. The artist selected from amongst 2,339 letters exchanged by Maria Dąbrowska and Anna Kowalska between the years 1940 and 1964.
Liliana Zeic discovered intarsia and poplar burl veneer during her visit to the Maria Dąbrowska Museum in Warsaw, where she stayed in the apartment the writer called home for thirty-seven years. Among the apartment’s many objects, she noticed an art deco furniture set veneered with poplar burl. This material captivated Zeic, inspiring the artist to learn intarsia, a decorative woodworking technique.
Quotations are from Sylwia Chwedorczuk’s book, Kowalska. Ta od Dąbrowskiej [Kowalska: The One from Dąbrowska] (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Marginesy, 2020), and original letters from the writers’ correspondence (Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature, Warsaw; ref. 2065 and 2153), obtained with the help of Sylwia Chwedorczuk.
phot. Alicja Kielan
