Pierre Restany, born in 1930 in Amélie-les-Bains, France, was a French art critic known for co-founding the neo-Dadaist Nouveau Réalisme artistic movement with Yves Klein in 1960. He began writing for the Italian art and architecture magazine Domus in 1963, helped found the Domus Academy in Milan in 1984, and edited the Italian contemporary arts and culture magazine D’Ars beginning in 1985. His writing includes monographs on the artists César and Yves Klein, and artistic theory on Nouveau Réalisme, marginal cultures, ecology in art, and technological humanism. He often organized large international art exhibitions. He died in 2003 in Paris, France.

Sources:

1. Bourriaud, Nicolas. “Pierre Restany.” Artforum, September 26, 2023. https://www.artforum.com/columns/pierre-restany-167767/.

2. Chilvers, Ian, and John Glaves-Smith. "Restany, Pierre." In A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. : Oxford University Press, 2009. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199239665.001.0001/acref-9780199239665-e-2265.

3. Johnson, Ken. “Pierre Restany, 72, Formulator of ‘new Realism’ School in Art.” The New York Times, June 5, 2003. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/05/arts/pierre-restany-72-formulator-of-new-realism-school-in-art.html.

Roman Cieślewicz, born in 1930 in Lviv, was a Polish poster artist who co-founded the Polish poster school, whose aesthetics are characterized by simplicity and clarity, poetic metaphor, and a variety of modes of expression. He studied at the School of Artistic Industry in Lviv, Krakow's Fine Arts Lycee, and the Poster Faculty of the Krakow Fine Arts Academy. He was the art director of Elle magazine from 1965-1969, and his work appeared in a variety of magazines, including Vogue and Opus International, film posters, exhibition catalogs for Paris Centre Pompidou, graphic design for the Galeries Lafayette and Musée Picasso, and graphic design for publishing houses such as Hachette. He died in Paris in 1996.

Sources: 1. Brukwicki, Jerzy. “Roman Cieślewicz.” Culture.pl, March 2, 2004. https://culture.pl/en/artist/roman-cieslewicz.

2. Policht, Piotr. “Roman Cieślewicz.” Culture.pl, July 13, 2018. https://culture.pl/en/article/the-french-dream-a-roman-cieslewicz-retrospective-in-paris.

Alina Szapocznikow, born in 1926 in Kalisz, was a Polish sculptor and Holocaust survivor known for her work in the Nouveau Réalisme and Surrealist artistic movements. She studied sculpture at Otokar Velimsky's studio in Prague, the Academy of Art and Industry in Prague, and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her art was characterized by abstractions of the human form and bodily deterioration, including a series she titled "Tumors." She was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1951 and breast cancer in 1968, and she died in 1973 of breast cancer.

Sources: 1. Kitowska-Łysiak, Małgorzata. “Alina Szapocznikow.” Culture.pl, March 4, 2021. https://culture.pl/en/artist/alina-szapocznikow.

2. Rosenberg, Karen. “Body and Soul, From the Surrealistic to the Fetishistic.” The New York Times, October 11, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/arts/design/alina-szapocznikows-sculptures-at-moma.html.

3. Traps, Yevgeniya. "Source of All Joy: On Alina Szapocznikow." The Paris Review, January 17, 2013. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/01/17/source-of-all-joy-on-alina-szapocznikow/.