About Me

She was born towards the close of summer when the nature was plentiful of colours and forms. That was probably the reason why the susceptibility to the beauty and arts dominates in all her activities. For a long time, she has been interested in arts and particularly in fine arts, cultivating them actively. Already in Góra where she used to live she was a member of the Amateur Artist’s Club at the Culture House, at that time ran by Mr Jan Kanicki and her work presented at the Museum of Architecture won the first prize. During her historical studies in Wrocław the problems of culture and arts were always among her particular interests, and the proof of this is the title of her Master thesis: “Crete’s Culture in the Aegean Period” – architecture, arts, ornamentation, the woman’s role and everyday life of that beautiful island. Later the job at the Museum of Rawicz District and the postgraduate studies in Toruń on the Faculty of Heritage Knowledge and Conservation, finished with writing a thesis “Portraits of Rawicz Owners” (our town has a unique gallery of that type in Wielkopolska), enabled the future developing and intensifying of these interests; they have become her profession and thus allowed her to accomplish the passion of her life. Secession is Bożena Rawluk–Raus’s favourite trend in art. She is particu­larly fascinated by the artistic handcrafts of this period: jewellery (she owns an interesting collection of Art Deco jewellery), ceramics and glassware. It has also found its reflection in the new collections of Secession glassware gathered in the Museum in Rawicz, which she has been managing since 1986.While studying the science of arts, she has been accomplishing her creative passion. In 1980 she also took part in the training of Artistic Fabric Section at the Provincial Culture House in Leszno. Themes of her works were flowers, still life, landscape and architecture painted with water-colours or drawn in crayon, feather or pencil. For the last two years, however, flowers have become the main theme of her works, which is due to her enchantment of Secession and her favourite paint­ing techniques have been pastel and water-colour. As she says: “… these means of expression allow particularly to render the nature of a flower. Diluted colours in countless tones, halftones, subtle, transparent penetrations render the beauty of a flower, its wetness, fluffiness, subtleness and rapaciousness alike”. The heroes of her works are not only the flower “aristocracy”, like roses and irises, but wild and garden plants as well; she does not hesitate to paint withering and sad flowers, the example of which being the triptych “Dying Tulip”. Flowers have not become her only painting theme – in 1993 she introduced the theme of fantasy and technique of the future in her works of arts. These few pastels were inspired by the exhibition shown in the Museum “In the World of Fantasy”, where they were displayed. In March 1995 she started painting on silk, taking part in two open-airs. She is interested in art of the Far East. In the nearest future the authoress promises the series of pastels with the lead­ing motif of butterflies which, like the flowers, are the ornamental elements of Se­cession. We can see some of them at this exhibition. She takes part in the Fine Arts Reviews of the South-western Wielkopolska and workshops dealing with painting on silk, which enables the authoress to get acquainted with this painting technique and at the same time contributed to this exhibition. Intercourse with the beauty and wealth of nature, delicacy and subtleness of the lines and patterns of Secession have given rise to the inspiration and fascina­tion of this trend in Bożena Rawluk–Raus’s creation, which is clearly to see in her works from the period of the last few years. And the leading motto of her creation – words uttered by the initiator of Munich Secession, Mr P. Behrens – which goes: “Everything that belongs to life is to become beautiful. In this way the beauty will become the byword of the highest might again. We want to live with a smile on our faces in our bright era”, reflects her inwardness, susceptibility and attitude towards the surrounding reality perfectly. Right now the authoress gets ready for the next exhibition “Women, Butterflies and Flowers”, which is being foreshadowedfor the next year. The authoress’ biography can be found in the Swiss publication of Hübners’ Biographic Encyclopedia “Who is Who”. Izabela Topczewka