Maria Anto's thematic interests and imaginary did not change from the 60s until the artist's death. However, during the several decades when she created, her painting technique slightly changed. The paintings from the 60s and the 70s are more precise. Her later works are more expressive and painted with more casualness and panache.
Paintings of animals are particularly important among Anto's works. Bestiarium (Bestiary), depicting real and fantastic animals, shows both sinister creatures and calm, friendly beings either presented on portraits or as a part of an allegorical scene. It seems that the animal figures that appear on Anto's paintings embody the notions and issues which emotionally engaged the artist. Many of her works show monkeys, birds and dogs. Unicorn was a special animal in her paintings, inspired by depictions from the series of tapestries The Lady and the Unicorn from Musée de Cluny in Paris. This noble, mostly white creatures symbolises the home's protector and embodiment of good.
A separate group of Anto's works consists of paintings which can be considered depictions of dreams. Examples of such works are Spacer Wieczorem (Evening Walk), Śniadanie na Trawie (The Luncheon on the Grass), Duch Drugi (The Second Ghost), Sen z Psami (Dream with Dogs) and Dom z Futra (Fur House). Some of them show dusk, so characteristic of the artist's works. The paintings present both good dreams and nightmares. Anto also depicts death with a hearse, birds dying in flight or a decapitated deer on a car's roof.
The artist participated in outdoor painting workshops in Białowieża, Osieki and Sandomierz, among others. She would call Białowieża her second home, a place where she would discover capabilities that she had not known about before. During the en plein air painting in Białowieża Anto did not want to study and paint nature. The workshops gave her the possibility to enter a different dimension. The artist would ascribe the place a metaphysical power:
The wilderness terrifies me, but also gives me new energy […] The spirits of Białowieża make me see more. I discover places of power, primeval enchanted spots there. I created my most significant works in Białowieża.
During the Martial Law the artist was engaged in underground cultural activity. She took part in periodic art meetings that were organised in churches and private spaces. At that time she created the important paintings expressing her support for the 'Solidarity' labour union, such as Dla Artura Grottgera (For Artur Grottger), Modlitwa I (Prayer I), Modlitwa II (Prayer II) and Kuźnica. That is what Andrzej Osęka wrote about Anto's works:
The main criterion and content of Maria Anto's works was, in spite of the coldness of the religious art, experiencing the world, talking about it by means of unusual, mysterious, meaningful, but above all very simple dreams. They include memories, dreams, fears and they are accompanied by the constant feeling that everything can happen.
Maria Anto's works are property of the National Museum in Warsaw, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, the Arsenał Gallery in Białystok, the Lublin Museum, the National Museum in Kielce, the Museum of Warsaw, the Museum of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, the Masovian Museum in Płock, the Diocesan Museum in Płock, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Museum of Sports and Turism in Warsaw, the Museum of Warmia and Masuria in Olsztyn, the Museum in Koszalin, the Art Gallery Zamojska in Zamość, and private collections in Europe, Latin America, Canada, USA, Japan and Australia.
Originally written in Polish by Michał Jachuła, translated by MW, April 2018
