Google Doodle remembers Polish sculptor Katarzyna Kobro: 'Intellect who shaped art'

Google Doodle: Katarzyna Kobro is regarded as the most prominent innovator in Central European abstract art of the early 20th century.

Google marked Polish sculptor Katarzyna Kobro’s 124^th birthday with a doodle on January 26. Kobro is regarded as the most prominent innovator in Central European abstract art of the early 20th century.

The Google Doodle features a sketch of Katarzyna Kobro and some of her creations. “Here’s to an intellect who shaped the art world,” Google said.

Kobro, born in Moscow in 1898, was interested in art and science early on in her life. In 1917, she got enrolled in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. At the institute, she worked with groups that were re-envisioning Russian art.

“Her stylistic development was complemented by emerging attitudes in the Polish avant-garde, in which artists believed art could be incorporated into everyday life through mass production,” Google said in its tribute piece for Kobro.

Kobro created her first sculpture in 1920. Titled “Tos 75 – Struktura”, it combined, metal, glass, wood and cork.

The sculptor created her best-known works in Poland. These were “Kompozycja Przestrzenna”, a sculpture series, and “Composition of Space: Calculations of Space-Time Rhythm”, a philosophy book that she wrote along with her husband Władysław Strzemiński.

Kobro was among the signatories of the “Dimensionist Manifesto” of 1936, that called for integrating scientific advancements and art.

The sculptor’s works were restored by art historians in the mid-twentieth century. The restoration has rekindled interest in Kobro’s influence on the artistic and scientific movements of her time.

Most of Kobro’s surviving artworks are displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The exhibit is called “Collection 1940s–1970s.”