Anna Binkuńska was born in 1908 in the town of Piaski near Lublin. Her father was an enthusiastic Sunday painter and infected his daughter with ‘the virus’ at a young age. Binkuńska followed a basic education with sewing as a specialization. She lived in Lublin, Warszawa and some smaller Polish towns. When as a young woman she found herself in difficult circumstances, she fled into painting and made it a habit to pick up the brush at night as well.
Auschwitz (1987). Oil paint on panel 50×70 cm.
After the war she moved to Wrocław where she worked as a seamstress in a fur processing cooperative. After her retirement in 1965, she was educated at the Municipal Center for Visual Arts in Wrocław from 1966 to 1969. Once she mastered the basic skills of painting on canvas, she painted 20 oil paintings within a week. This creative explosion crowned the process of artistic maturation that originated from her childhood.
Portrait of Maximilian Kolbe (1971). Oil paint on panel 34x24cm.
In Binkuńska’s works she depicted the multicultural world of her native Lublin region – religious rituals and the daily life of the Jewish community, gypsy folklore, folk customs, cityscapes and fairs. She recorded her love for nature in canvases ‘filled’ with birds and flowers. Also friends, politicians and artists were among her favorite subjects.
Sunflowers (1988). Tempera on panel 40×26 cm.
Binkuńska was an extremely productive artist. Until her death in 1997 she created more than 3000 paintings and participated in numerous exhibitions in Poland (Wrocław, Opole, Szczecin, Zielona Góra, Lublin, Toruń), Austria (Vienna), Hungary (Budapest), France (Confolens), Germany (Kiel, Göttingen), Italy (Spoleto) and the Netherlandse (Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Zwolle).
Much of her work is included in the collection of the Ethnographic Museum of Wrocław.
Portrait of Alina Otten (1989). Oil paint on panel 49×40 cm.
FOR MORE PHOTOS SEE:
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT WILLEM OTTEN (#binkuńskawo, #annabinkuńska)