Maria Bartuszová exhibition Tate Modern

Slovakian born sculptor Maria Bartuszová (1936-1996) may not be a household name, but her works are in some of Europe's most notable public collections, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Slovak National Gallery. This autumn, Tate Modern will launch an exhibition exploring her experimental techniques and her fascination with the tactile nature of plaster.

Bartuszová – like so many female artists of the era – had to balance her artistic life with family and financial demands. Despite these pressures her output was prolific and she created some 500 sculptures. In the 1960s Bartuszová started to experiment with casting by filling balloons with plaster. She began by letting gravity become the moulding force, hanging the balloons so that the resulting sculpture took on a teardrop shape. She experimented with water, too, and ties, to force the plaster into other, more bodily, forms.

Bartuszová's work ranged from small pieces that could be held in the hand, to large public sculptures and ephemeral outdoor installations. Her playful methods belie the elegance of the resultant pieces, which have a tactile quality and a calm fragility that speaks of nature, sexuality and motherhood. Tate Modern's exhibition will also include Bartuszová's drawings alongside photographs of her most transitory works. All-in-all, this promises to be a show celebrating the artist's love of form and the infinite possibilities of sculpture.