The first exhibition of its kind since the pandemic and the reopening of the gallery following flooding, Shaping the Future – New Arrivals at the Ben Uri Collection, presents an exciting and eclectic display of new acquisitions and long-term loans to the Ben Uri Collection since 2019, reflecting our continuing research focus on the Jewish, refugee and immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.
The display explores a series of both distinct and overlapping themes and motifs with works referencing theatre and/or performance including Abraham Solomon’s lively portrayal of Molière’s Le Malade Imaginaire (1861), Austrian-Jewish émigrée Marie-Louise von Motesiczky’s celebratory Circus (1964), pioneering African modernist Ben Enwonwu’s rhythmic Dancer (1962), and Indian-born Lancelot Ribeiro’s bold King Lear (1964). The late South African-born distinguished actor and artist Sir Antony Sher’s moving Self-portrait as Primo [Levi] (2008) crosses genres, contrasting with R. B. Kitaj’s vivid Red Self-portrait after Masaccio and Chagall’s light-hearted Self-portrait. So too, does Polish immigrant Alfred Wolmark’s double-portrait, depicting two women in theatrical costume and said to be of his mother and sister.
Other portraiture centred on family ranges from the celebratory to the commemorative including Pakistani-born Nassar Azam’s early double portrait of his mother and brother, and his tender Newborn, in which the mother is both present and hidden, to Austrian-born Georg Ehrlich’s moving commemorative bronze, Two Sisters (1944–45). Hungarian-born George Mayer-Marton’s The March of the Parents (1956), painted in the wake of the Hungarian Uprising, also references the fate of his parents, who both perished in the Holocaust.
Other works addressing aspects of war include Franco-Moldovan Grégoire Michonze’s record of Russian prisoners in Stalag Scene (1940–42), and Polish-born Felix Topolski’s scarf design depicting wartime London, commissioned by Czechoslovakian-Jewish émigré textile designer Zika Ascher (1944). Refugees depicted by Orovida and Eva Frankfurther record the consequences of war, while Ernst Eisenmayer’s Law and Order (1962) is a disquieting suggestion of continuing violence and injustice in postwar multicultural Britain.
Postwar landscapes, all devoid of human presence, include Hitler émigré Fred Uhlman’s fiery Welsh cottages, Chicago-born, former aerial navigator Alfred Cohen’s The View from Panton House (1962), Austrian printmaker Rudolf Hradil’s etching of London Bridge, and Lancelot Ribeiro’s collage-like painting of his hometown Bombay (now Mumbai). By contrast, Paul Jeffay’s bustling postwar street scene, set in the heart of Paris’ Jewish quarter, surely harks back to city life prior to the Second World War.
Portrait sculptures include contrasting bronze portrait by two émigré contemporaries, Jacob Epstein and Dora Gordine: Epstein’s Romilly John (1907) with his smooth, helmet-like hair and baby face contrast with the rugged, ageing Albert Einstein (1933); while Gordine’s two beautifully modelled heads of an unidentified African woman in Paris (1920s), contras the smooth, black patina of the former with the worked surface and green patina of the Cypriot Paulette Pavlides.
Works on paper include a rare, early etching by George Mayer-Marton, and Austrian Hitler émigrée Helga Michie’s Headland (1980) - the first of her works to enter a UK public collection - and Czech Hitler émigrée Dorrit Dekk’s Abstract Composition, together with archival pieces including her colourful 1950s’ menu design, Jo Bondy’s playful Christmas design and Hormazd Narielwalla’s artist’s book, Birds of Passage. The latter responds to his memories of Barbara Hepworth’s St Ives sculptures and references his previous works utilising found or discarded materials relating to tailoring and pattern cutting.
We extend enormous thanks to all the funders, donors and lenders whose generosity has made this exhibition possible including Nasser Azam, Dr. Jana Buresova, the Alfred Cohen Foundation, Derbyshire Schools Service, the late Rabbi Albert H. Friedlander and Evelyn Friedlander, Michael Fuhrmann, the late Agi Katz, Hormazd Narielwalla, the Estate of Lancelot Ribeiro, the late Sir Antony Sher, Alan Swerdlow, the late Dr. Suzanne Ullmann, the Estate of Fred Uhlman, the late Irena 'Tasha' Williams, and those who prefer anonymity. Thanks also to Clare Matthews, Rachel Dickson, Jon King and Verity Laycock.
We are honoured to dedicate this exhibition to gallerist and curator Agi Katz, a long-time friend of Ben Uri, where she was the curator (1979-86), and afterwards, proprietor of the Boundary Gallery. She is sadly missed by all who knew her, and who is represented by two works on paper by Eva Frankfurther, kindly donated to the Ben Uri Collection in 2014.
Sarah MacDougall
Director
