Marian Kratochwil Sale
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Marian Kratochwil (1906-1997), once described as ‘The Bard of the Beauty of Life’ , was an artist of considerable distinction and reputation. Seen to have had a distinct artistic voice in a period of ‘isms’, his artistic importance has grown in the years since his death. His work is already in a number of leading galleries and private collections, including in the UK, US, Spain and his native Poland. After his death, much of Kratochwil’s collection passed to his pupil and fellow artist Robert Knight, and this sale from Knight’s estate offers a wide selection of Kratochwil’s work from throughout his career, as well as works owned by him. It is a unique opportunity to acquire works by him and his mentor Dame Ethel Walker, as well as sketchbooks and studio effects. It is unlikely that such a collection will ever come again to be sold at auction. During his lifetime, Kratochwil’s art, like that of so many exiles, fell outside the artistic norms and classifying ‘isms’ of early to mid 20th Century art. Those who knew him, however, particularly those he and his wife and partner Kathleen Browne taught at their South Kensington art school, were deeply influenced and touched by his talents and vision. His art is now being reassessed and accorded the attention it merits and can be found in a number of leading galleries and museums around the world, as well as in private collections. In 2008 a chapter was dedicated to Kratochwil in Douglas Hall’s Art in Exile: Polish Artists in Post-War Britain, which accompanied an exhibition of the same name at the Boundary Gallery in London. The sale in Cheltenham on 8th April (telephone bidding available) will be supported by a further collection of 20th Century British art and other Paintings, including works by Mary Fedden, Robert Lenkiewicz, Paul Lucien Maze, Lucien Pissarro, Douglas Portway, L S Lowry, Howard Somerville, Alfred Wolmark, Sir Howard Stockville and Fred Yates. The sale also includes works by Sir John James Stuart/Steuart of Allanbank, in the collections of F. Egerton, before passing to Kratochwil. |