After the end of the Second World War, London quite quickly became a thriving centre for Polish art. This happened, among other things, as a result of the communists taking power in Poland. A numerous group of artists, not accepting this fact and fearing repression, did not return to their homeland. As a result, post-war Polish visual art developed in two different streams, in the country - where quite quickly, in accordance with the doctrine of socialist realism, the new authorities introduced top-down rules for the management of art - and outside its borders.

The faces of émigré art in Britain were varied, often burdened by the stigma of the artists' wartime experiences. The work found a great admirer at one point: Matthew Bateson became fascinated by the mood, symbolism and expression of Polish painting. For almost forty years he has been building up his collection of Polish art - mainly paintings and prints, but also ceramics.

The art historian Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz is the author of an extensive discussion of the Polish artistic community in London and a catalogue of selected works from the Matthew Bateson collection. A professor teaching at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, he is one of the most eminent researchers of Polish art in exile after 1939.

The book published by the POLONIKA Institute is one of the most important publications presenting this issue.

Author: Jan Wiktor Sienkiewicz

Edited by: Renata Gajowiak, Grażyna Waluga

Translation: Adam Kunysz, Krzysztof Cieszkowski Ronald Coleman, Grażyna Waluga

Year of publication: 2020

Number of pages: 244

Binding: soft

Format: 200 x 250 mm

ISBN: 978-83-66172-31-9