Lot 33: Peter Potworoski (Polish, 1898-1962) Fish 40.7 x 50.8 cm. (16 x 20 in.)

Fish
signed 'P.Potworoski' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40.7 x 50.8 cm. (16 x 20 in.)

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, U.K.

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1898, Potworowski came to England in 1943, having travelled extensively around Europe for twenty years. From 1946 until his return to Poland in 1958, Potworoski spent long periods in Sancreed, Cornwall. The art produced during his long sejourn in the U.K is among his best and the association with the artists living and working in Cornwall was to be of significance not only to him but also to the artists whom he befriended. Peter Lanyon was amongst many colleagues teaching at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, who held him in high esteem. From Lanyon, Potworoski gleaned a sense of what was possible with landscape-based abstraction. Equally, as a direct result of his experience of the colour sensibilities pervading the studios in Paris where he studied in the 1920s, he inspired Lanyon with his rich colour to open up his mature palette. His move back to Poland in the late 1950s, before the reputations of his colleagues of St Ives were assured, may account for the neglect of this subtle and inspiring artist.