The Ben Uri Research Unit (BURU) is happy to present Franciszka Themerson’s Stories from the Life.The exhibition includes the paintings and drawings from her student days at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art and some of her later works in London. Most of them have never been exhibited in England. Of the early works, made in Poland there are 3 paintings, and 19 drawings made between 1929 and 1933, which will be shown in the main gallery. When the exhibition ends, they will be donated to the National Museum in Warsaw.
The lower galleries will include works from the 1940s when Franciszka begins to experiment with abstract forms and bright colours.
Even though Franciszka Themerson illustrated and designed books, was director of Gaberbocchus Press, made films with her husband Stefan Themerson, designed for the theatre, she was primarily a painter. Her paintings developed from the very tightly crafted, densely coloured scenes of events within interiors of the earliest works, to later images whose meaning could be read in several different ways. The comparison is both puzzling and interesting.
The exhibition is accompanied by a small catalogue about the early works, edited by Jasia Reichardt and designed by Pedro Cid Proença.
Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, 108a Boundary Road, St John’s Wood, London NW8ORH
Exhibition is open: Wednesdays to Fridays: 10 am – 5.30pm.
Notes for Editors:
This exhibition reflects Ben Uri’s core research focus on the Refugee and Immigrant
contribution to British visual culture since 1900: see buru.org.uk & diaspora-artists.net
About Ben Uri: See: www.benuri.org
Founded in 1915 in Whitechapel, London. In 2018 Ben Uri transformed the standard museum operating model and launched the first full-scale virtual art museum and research centre focusing exclusively on the Jewish, Refugee, and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture. In 2024 Ben Uri is recognised as a leading and distinctive academic research resource with over 3200 profiles published on buru.org.uk and diaspora-artists.net.
For further information and press images, contact:Sarahm@benuri.org
