Kolekcja rzeźby w zbiorach Muzeum Wsi Mazowieckiej w Sierpcu obejmuje ponad 900 eksponatów. W ramach ekspozycji prezentowane są prace 16 twórców z okolic Sierpca. Zdecydowana większość to rzeźby artystów ludowych i nieprofesjonalnych powstałe w II połowie XX wieku.
Ekspozycja obejmuje trzy grupy tematyczne. Pierwsza z nich to przedstawienia o tematyce sakralnej, wśród których dominują: Chrystus Frasobliwy, Matka Boska Skępska, Pasja, Pieta, postaci świętych i sceny biblijne. Druga grupa dotyczy przedstawień związanych z życiem wsi i pracą w gospodarstwie. Trzecia podejmuje tematykę historyczną – rzeźby stanowią wyobrażenia ważnych postaci i wydarzeń z dziejów Polski. Ponadto w kolekcji znajduje się też kilkadziesiąt pozyskanych podczas badań terenowych rzeźb zabytkowych, w większości XIX – wiecznych. Na szczególną uwagę zasługuje tu XV–wieczna Pieta z Lutocina – jedno z nielicznych zachowanych na Mazowszu gotyckich dzieł tego typu.
Established in 1971the sculpture collection from the collections of the Museum of the Masovian Countryside in Sierpc consists of over 900 exhibits. Within the exhibition there are presented works of 16 creators from the Sierpc area. The vast majority are sculptures of folk and non-professional artists made in the second half of the 20th century. The sculptors differ in a slight time distance, but they are similar in their background and pursuit to show the surrounding world’s simplicity, respecting the values of traditional sculptural skills. Sculpture art from Sierpc displays strong connections with a village handicraft, because most of the artists began their art activity working as carpenters. For many of them, sculpting became a basic source of income, however primarily a passion.
Exhibits gathered within the exhibition can be divided into three principal thematic groups. The first one is connected with sacred presentations, which are the continuation of old-time “świątki” (religious figures) tradition from the region, among which dominate: the Pensive Christ, the Mother of God from Skępe, the Passion of Jesus, the Pietà, figures of saints, and biblical scenes. The second group relates to presentations connected with a village life and a farm work. The third one concerns historical themes – the sculptures are the effigies of important people and events from Polish history. The subject area of the presented works is an overview of individual artistic possibilities simultaneously allowing for the common features of the whole centre.
Moreover, in the museum collection there are several dozen of antique sculptures sourced during field research, mostly from the 19th century, among which dominates the presentation of the Mother of God from Skępe. A remarkable work of this part of the collection is the 15th century Pietà from Lutocin village – one of the few preserved in Masovia region gothic presentations of that kind. Works that constitute this part of the collection were gathered mostly from home altars, wayside shrines, and churches.
Sculptors from the Sierpc region treat differently each type of wood pursuing to abstract its natural features. A piece of wood, an unremarkable wooden block in their hands becomes a top-grade art material malleable to almost every kind of shaping. Thereby, forms are made that enable abstracting the whole abundance which wood gives. The works are often expanded, diverse, and meaningful to such an extent that their surface may reflect the real form. The configuration of colours or the size of a sculpture itself do not decide about the expressive power of the gathered sculptures, but their immobility as well as imprinted and frozen traces of time.
The exhibition presenting the sculpture collection of the Museum of the Masovian Countryside in Sierpc draws closer sculptures of talented artists from the Sierpc area, it shows the works of those, for whom art was always where people were.