Marek 呕耻艂补飞蝉办颈: Paintings from the collection of the University Museum
Painter, art critic, and writer 鈥� a picturesque figure in the London 茅migr茅 artistic community and, alongside J贸zef Herman, Stanis艂aw Frenkel, and Feliks Topolski, the most well-known Polish painter in Great Britain. He died in 1985 in London, where he had resided since 1937, after a life full of exhibitions, discoveries, and successes hardly ever available to 茅migr茅s. At the time of his arrival on the Thames, England was an artistic province, and foreign artists were regarded as ill-mannered meddlers. During the war 呕耻艂补飞蝉办颈 became known as a speaker and author of broadcasts about art in the Polish section of the BBC; it was at this time that he designed the most famous war poster, 鈥淧oland First to Fight.鈥� Marek found his way in painting at a time when England was emerging from ruins and people were full of optimism about the challenges that awaited post-war man. His artistic position in London was established when he executed a fresco for the Festival of Britain exhibition pavilion (1951). Other public commissions and several hundred exhibitions in renowned London galleries, and major museums and galleries in Poland all but confirmed this acclaim.
He was an appreciated and selling artist 鈥� he never suffered from a lack of work. His paintings can be found in all the major contemporary art collections in Poland as well as in numerous European collections. He was an unusual and controversial figure: in appearance, he resembled Sienkiewicz characters: tall, stocky, with fine features, marked by seriousness and character. He treated life with nonchalance, and art and writing with deadly seriousness. Born into a family of writers, directors, travellers, mountaineers, politicians, and painters, he was in a sense doomed to greatness.
He was born in Rome 鈥� the son of a well-known writer and playwright. After graduating from high school in Toru艅, where his mother ran the boarding house 鈥瀂ofij贸wka鈥� in the Bydgoskie Przedmie艣cie district, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and became a student of Felicjan Kowarski. Having completed his studies, he stayed abroad, travelling through Italy and France, where he came into contact with the works of the early phase of Post-Impressionism. From academic dramatic realism, he moved towards colour expression and expressive forms with strong contours. He was fascinated by religious painting with its monumental and hieratic forms, and captivated by the walls of churches and spacious buildings, but in painting Christ he not only retained the statuesque and quiescence of the figures, so typical of Byzantine church mosaics, but was also able to bring out the silence and prayer in the austere play of colours.
Painter, art critic, and writer 鈥� a picturesque figure in the London 茅migr茅 artistic community and, alongside J贸zef Herman, Stanis艂aw Frenkel, and Feliks Topolski, the most well-known Polish painter in Great Britain. He died in 1985 in London, where he had resided since 1937, after a life full of exhibitions, discoveries, and successes hardly ever available to 茅migr茅s. At the time of his arrival on the Thames, England was an artistic province, and foreign artists were regarded as ill-mannered meddlers. During the war 呕耻艂补飞蝉办颈 became known as a speaker and author of broadcasts about art in the Polish section of the BBC; it was at this time that he designed the most famous war poster, 鈥淧oland First to Fight.鈥� Marek found his way in painting at a time when England was emerging from ruins and people were full of optimism about the challenges that awaited post-war man. His artistic position in London was established when he executed a fresco for the Festival of Britain exhibition pavilion (1951). Other public commissions and several hundred exhibitions in renowned London galleries, and major museums and galleries in Poland all but confirmed this acclaim.
He was an appreciated and selling artist 鈥� he never suffered from a lack of work. His paintings can be found in all the major contemporary art collections in Poland as well as in numerous European collections. He was an unusual and controversial figure: in appearance, he resembled Sienkiewicz characters: tall, stocky, with fine features, marked by seriousness and character. He treated life with nonchalance, and art and writing with deadly seriousness. Born into a family of writers, directors, travellers, mountaineers, politicians, and painters, he was in a sense doomed to greatness.
He was born in Rome 鈥� the son of a well-known writer and playwright. After graduating from high school in Toru艅, where his mother ran the boarding house 鈥瀂ofij贸wka鈥� in the Bydgoskie Przedmie艣cie district, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and became a student of Felicjan Kowarski. Having completed his studies, he stayed abroad, travelling through Italy and France, where he came into contact with the works of the early phase of Post-Impressionism. From academic dramatic realism, he moved towards colour expression and expressive forms with strong contours. He was fascinated by religious painting with its monumental and hieratic forms, and captivated by the walls of churches and spacious buildings, but in painting Christ he not only retained the statuesque and quiescence of the figures, so typical of Byzantine church mosaics, but was also able to bring out the silence and prayer in the austere play of colours.
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