Ten Steps, 1976

In 1976 Bakowski realized his most monumental work entitled “Ten Steps”, (also known as “Figure in the Open Air”). The project comprised of ten plates covered with cut photographic prints arranged according to a predetermined scheme. Due to manual cutting, ordering and mounting, the meticulous and painstaking method developed by the artist required exceptional patience and commitment. The point of departure for the work was a set of ten photographs depicting a female model in a landscape, in each photograph the woman takes a step towards the camera, until occupying the whole frame in the last one. Each photograph was then reproduced to obtain a number of copies defined by a mathematical scheme, up to hundred prints of the tenth photograph. The prints were then cut and mounted on a plate. Much like in the previous series of “The Old Town”, “Rose” and “Ball”, each subsequent “photographic surface” (plate) depicted a gradually more unreal composition. The plates numbered one to five were destroyed in Wrocław in 1997 due to a flood.