Piotr Potworowski

Potworowski worked between 1898 and 1962 across painter, scenographer, teacher, graphic artist and sculptor and 1 further recorded occupations. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

The recorded working language is Polish. The field of work recorded is painting, art of sculpture and scenography. Places of work recorded in the authority are Moscow, Kraków and Paris. Work by Piotr Potworowski is recorded in the collections of Tate, National Museum in Warsaw, Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Royal West of England Academy and Victoria Art Gallery. Distinctions recorded are Cross of Valour (1920).

Piotr Tadeusz Potworowski was born on 14 June 1898, in Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire. The family owned an engineering factory and a summer villa on the River Wisła. He was considered a "difficult" child and attended a school for the disturbed. His mother was killed in a sledging accident in 1913 and in August 1914 at the start of the war he and his two brothers were sent for safety to relatives in Moscow. His sketches from that period show interest and talent which was put aside when he volunteered for the Polish Cavalry Brigade, part of the Russian Army, fighting first the Germans then the Ukrainians and finally the Bolsheviks. After the war in 1920 he studied design in the Warsaw University of Technology then in the following year moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and discovered French painting. In 1924 he travelled to Paris as a member of Komitet Paryski (KP), a group of young painters, and stayed there for seven years immersing himself in avant garde culture of that period. For a short time he joined the studio of Fernand Léger and was a leader in organising the Bal Polonaise which was attended by Picasso, Braque and other artists. In 1927 he spent three months working on a French commercial schooner and followed this in 1928 with an exhibition of ships at the Claridge Gallery, London. He married Magdalena Mańkowska in 1929, and he returned to Poland in 1930, where their son Jan was born. They lived near Poznań in Rudki Palace which was owned by his wife's family and in which they hosted, for months on end, fellow artists and officers from his regiment. In 1935 the family moved to Grebanin, a village near the town of Kępno in which he initiated a regional museum and commenced a large fresco in the town hall. In 1936 Anusia, his daughter was born. He exhibited frequently in Poland and in 1937 was awarded a silver medal at the International Exhibition of Art and Technology in Paris. He fought in the 1939 campaign and when that collapsed attempted to reach allied forces in Narvik. When the fall of France made this impossible he settled in Sweden where he continued to paint and sculpt, and organised an exhibition of Polish-Norwegian Art. In 1941 his family joined him but in September 1943 he was ordered to join the Polish Army in Britain. On arriving in Scotland in a Mosquito, he was told that he was too old for front-line duty and was stationed in London. There he engaged with enthusiasm in the Polish cultural life, was appointed President of the Association of Polish Artists and joined the exclusive London Group. A number of exhibitions in London led to a position in the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, where he significantly influenced the creative thinking of a new wave of British painters such as Peter Lanyon, William Scott, and Patrick Heron. Every two years he exhibited in the Gimpel Fils Gallery. In 1958 he was invited to work in Poland. There followed four very intensive years where he not only produced his most powerful paintings but also sculptures and scenography projects. He had his first exhibition at the National Museum in Poznań, 1958, then in National Museums of Kraków, Gdańsk, Warsaw, Wrocław and Szczecin. The very good reception of his work contributed to his decision to stay in the country. He exhibited in the Venice Biennale in 1960 receiving a silver medal and also in the Galerie Lacloche, Paris. He died on 24 April 1962, in Warsaw and was buried in the Powązki Cemetery in the Avenue of Merit.

• 1927: Salon des Indépendants, Grand Palais, Paris • 1937: International Exhibition, Polish Pavilion, Paris • 1947–1957: annual, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London • 1958 National Museum, Poznań • 1962 Galerie Lacloche, Paris • 1996 National Gallery of Contemporary Art, Warsaw • 2013 Galeria Studio, Palace of Culture, Warsaw

• Tate St Ives • Royal West of England Academy • Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery • National Museum of Warsaw • National Museum of Poznań • National Museum of Kraków • National Museum of Katowice • National Museum of Gdańsk

Potworowski worked as painter, scenographer, teacher and graphic artist, and the authority record catalogues a further 2 occupations under the same name, among them sculptor and art educator. Potworowski worked in Moscow, Kraków, Paris, London, Warsaw, Sweden, Great Britain and Poland. Potworowski worked in Polish. Potworowski died on 24 April 1962 in Poznań. Potworowski is buried at Powązki Cemetery.