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Topolski art underneath the arches
Ben Lewis, Evening Standard 17 Mar 2009
Between 1975 and his death in 1989, the Polish-born illustrator Feliks Topolski painted a history of the 20th century in his own personal museum underneath the arches of Hungerford Bridge.
For years this project fell into decay, Topolski’s friezes, painted with Dulux, gradually acquiring unwanted graffiti. The restoration project has been a 10-year labour of love, led by his two children.
Now the visitor wanders through a mini-labyrinth of restored painted panels, full of portraits of the famous and images of the great political events of the era.
Born in 1907 in Warsaw, Topolski was a Polish artist who moved to London in the late Thirties. Here, he became one of the most in-demand illustrators of his time — with commissions from Picture Post to Prince Philip, permitting him to lead an existence that makes Zelig, Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump look like they never left their front door.
He was an official war artist and accompanied an Arctic convoy to Russia in 1941; he was in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp two weeks after its liberation in 1945; he sketched at the Nuremberg trials. He was in China in 1966 for the Cultural Revolution, and met the Black Panthers in 1968, all the while organising acid parties in London with his hippy friends.
The walls are crowded with portraits — Mao, Nehru, George Bernard Shaw and scores more literary and political personages. Topolski was friends with most of them, apparently. One clue to his character is provided by a scene from Egypt in the Forties, in which King Farouk spanks the bottom of writer and bohemian Barbara Skelton — he’d just heard that she’d been double-dating with the artist.
So the stories are great but Topolski’s painting, it must be said, is rather hard work. As an illustrator in ink he was a genius — the many reproductions, printed alongside well-written texts on the wall, demonstrate that — but he paints in an excessively loose Expressionist style that many will find tiring. There are many hidden treats in this historically significant monument, which tells the story of the 20th century as you’ve never been told it before but you may need a guided tour to get the most from it.
Open daily 11am-7pm, free entry. Information: www.topolskicentury.org.uk.
Rebecca Warren’s exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery runs until 19 April, not until 10 March as earlier stated. Information: www.serpentinegallery.org
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (4)
Well having read about this exhibition - which to my surprise I'd never heard of, despite working nearby for many years - I went along the other day and was pretty disappointed.
The mural itself is excessively sketchy and hardly looks like 14 years' work! It has an oddly unfinished appearance as if he was meaning to fill in a lot more; the impression is a first draft of a theatre set. Also parts of it are very hard to make out, as if faded: maybe using Dulux was one of the problems? To be honest, I can well understand why it's been left forgotten for so long.
There's a room about Topolski's main work as an illustrator which is much more interesting than the mural.
- Jonathan, London, UK, 19/06/2010 18:28
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I really enjoyed the article about Feliks Topolski.
I am a retired lawyer now aged 60. I lived in Oxford during 1975 with friends who at that time were doing their Articles at Herbert & Gower, Solicitors. I often travelled to London & the Law Courts - as well as having contact with the MR (Denning), I obtained a lot of Legal Art Prints including the works of Feliks Topolski embodied in a book, I think entitled, Legal London. Years later I had the prints removed & had them all framed including such ones as The Procession. So I read the article with great interest.
Are you aware whether the prints are sought after / have value? Either way, I may contact the Melbourne Bar, to determine what interest there may be in them. Any assistance / advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
Ross Hopkins
- Ross Hopkins, Melbourne, Australia, 30/12/2009 02:25
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Over 20 years ago I worked in the legal stationery trade and was given a selection of unframed Felix Topolski prints depicting scenes from legal events in the 1960's inc. 4 copies of The Lord Mayors Procession, 4 copies of The Admission Ceremony at the Law Society Hall, 1 copy of Outside Westminster Halland 4 copies of Mr Upjohn Lord Justice of Appeal ? Could you please advise if these prints are of any value and where I might be able to sell them.
- Geoffrey R Allen, Leeds, United Kingdom, 23/11/2009 16:31
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i have a print of an original by topolski i found way back in the very early 1970s when a little boy even though its a print and slightly staind its quite a remarkable picture and i was wondering if the topolski gallery would be interested in loaning it for display if interested i could send some photo copies in and see what you think so please let me know if interested.
- Robert Byrne, london 'england, 23/11/2009 15:31
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