Teresa Pągowska's dreamy interpretations of the female form are in London for the first time

Newspaper cut-outs, collaged works on paper, and oil paintings on unprimed canvases come together in bold interpretations of female form, animals, dreamscapes, and interspecies figures that define the work of Polish artist Teresa Pągowska (1926-2007) .

‘Shadow Self’ in Thaddaeus Ropac’s 18th-century townhouse gallery in London, presents the first UK solo exhibition of Pągowska’s work. The exhibition seeks to introduce Pągowska’s overlooked work to a global audience as curator Oona Doyle explains: 'While Teresa Pągowska is present in Poland and her works are in major institutions, she is not as known internationally in contrast to artists such as Andrzej Wróblewski or Alina Szapocznikow. She deserves proper exposure, and this exhibition will be the rare opportunity to see her works in London.'

Pągowska's approach to the female figure was both sensitive and radical. One striking painting, Untitled (1966) commands attention, with shades of blue, from deep cobalt to soft baby blue, bleeding from background to foreground, delineating a fragmented female figure that sits in the centre of the canvas. Her head appears severed, a haunting symbol of violence and erasure, perhaps a feminist outcry of the battered and fractured experiences of women in postwar Poland. 'The art world was dominated by male artists, and because she worked and lived in Poland, a communist country at the time, that too played a role in limiting her exposure in the West.' Her son Filip Pągowska, who oversees her estate, explains. 'With times changing and the much larger interest in female artists growing, the past injustices are being mitigated.' Filip is also a graphic artist and the man behind the Comme des Garçons logo.

Pągowska's work carries undeniable undercurrents of gender consciousness. Another standout painting in the exhibition, Untitled (1969) is neatly divided by the form of a neon pink crucifix, splitting the green composition into four distinct sections. The severed head motif reappears, this time alongside a fragmented female torso. A single disembodied leg dangles from the top of the canvas, while two limp arms hang from the cross, in a very visceral depiction of dismemberment and sacrifice. 'Every serious artist, consciously or not, develops and then projects some form of personal narration,' Filip explains. 'Teresa’s sensibility has an ability to open and manifest itself in the unexpected, somewhat obscure, provocative, and alluring.'

Pągowska redefined representations of the female figure at a time when not many other artists were resisting traditional narratives with emotional and psychological depth. Her figures sit somewhere between the human and animal, blurring identity and form with a sense of theatricality. ‘Shadow Self’ allows visitors the chance to engage with these forgotten histories and narratives, and to discover new depths within an artist's work who is only today getting recognised for the intimacy and power of her work.

‘Shadow Self’ is at Thaddaeus Ropac London until 2 April