£3,600
Julian Stanczak (1928-2017) 'Female Figure'. Early 1950s oil on board, unsigned. 53 x 68cm. Provenance: this painting was gifted to the present owner's family by Julian Stanczak in the 1950s.
We collected the Stanczak works from a private house and there is an interesting provenance attached to the collection.
The owners mother, Irena, had the same journey out of Poland as Stanczak via the Middle East and Africa to England in the 1940s or 50s. They remained friends and in contact with each other their whole lives. All the books and exhibition catalogues etc are dedicated to Irena and signed by Julian (in Polish).
Also the book 'From Snow to Sunshine' (also lot 504) is Irena's biography account of the journey to London and then settling in East Sussex, which is where we are located. We don't think the book mentions Julian.
The son says that the family home in London was in Bayswater, "A big place with lots of bohemian people coming and going, artists and writers". The home was very close to the Drian art gallery in Porchester Place, opened in 1957 by Halima Nalecz (lot 505, another Polish artist who made the journey to London.
Drian was a focal point for abstract art in the 50s and 60s. Lots 506 and 507 are probably from there. The family had connections to it for many years.
Stanczak left England for America in 1950. Our 2 early paintings were sent back to the family after he left, although they have no record of when their mother had them.
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