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| c1986 Feliks Topolski photograph © by R.A. Redburn |
Feliks Topolski was a Polish-born British artist known for his expressionistic prints and paintings depicting important figures and occasions. Over the course of his career, he produced portraits of Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw, as well as events such as Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. “I feel I must make it clear that my work is neither ‘academic’ nor caricaturing on the basis of photographs—it is done from life,” he once explained of his work. Born on August 14, 1907 in Warsaw, Poland, he went on to study at the Warsaw Academy of Art before moving to England in 1935. During World War II, Topolski became an official war artist for his adopted country and produced studies of battlefields throughout Europe during the conflict. He gained his British citizenship in 1947 and began work on his pictorial record of political and social events known as the Chronicles. Topolski died on August 24, 1989 in London, United Kingdom. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.
This is part 3 of a 4 - part series on the works of Felix Topolski.
For full biography notes see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 & 2 also.
All images © The estate of Feliks Topolski
1957 Bank of England
In 1941, a vivid image by London-based Polish artist Feliks Topolski of bomb damage outside the Bank of England in the City of London was deemed unsuitable for public consumption and was swiftly acquired by the Bank for out-of-sight safe keeping – Topolski’s expressionistic style had proved too candid for the Blitz-battered times. Sixteen years later, however, the Bank approached Topolski with a new commission – to celebrate its state-of-the-art banknote printing works at Debden in Essex, a major development for the Bank designed by architect Sir Howard Robertson and engineered by Ove Arup.
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| 1957 Bank of England Printing Works 5.45pm |
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| 1957 Boiler House |
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| 1957 Canteen |
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| 1957 Cutting Area |
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| 1957 Cutting Area |
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| 1957 Final Examination Area |
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| 1957 Final Examination Area |
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| 1957 Final Examination Area |
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| 1957 Final Examination Area |
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| 1957 Final Examination Area |
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| 1957 Final Examination Area |
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| 1957 Litho (Lithography) Section |
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| 1957 Lunch break outside canteen |
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| 1957 Numbering Section |
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| 1957 Numbering Section |
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| 1957 Numbering Section |
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| 1957 Plate Printing Section |
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| 1957 Plate Printing Section |
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| 1957 Plate Printing Section |
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| 1957 Plate Printing Section |
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| 1957 Plate Printing Section |
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| 1957 Recreation Hall |
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| 1957 Untitled |
20th Century Literary Figures:
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| 1959 Edith Sitwell oil on board 180.3 x 120 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1960s Louis MacNeice oil on canvas 100 x 74.3 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1960s William Empson oil on canvas 76.8 x 63.5 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Aldous Huxley oil on canvas 110.5 x 140.3 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Bertrand Russell oil on canvas 126.3 x 95.9 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 E.M. Forster oil on canvas 122.2 x 76.7 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Evelyn Waugh oil on canvas 101.6 x 79.4 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Graham Greene oil on board 122.2 x 76.7 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Herbert Read oil on canvas 101.6 x 76.2 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 John Betjeman oil on canvas 90.5 x 70.2 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Rebecca West oil on canvas 90.6 x 69.8 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 Stephen Spender oil on canvas 101.6 x 76.2 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 T.S. Eliot oil on canvas 96.5 x 64.8 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1961 W.H. Auden oil on canvas 101.6 x 76.2 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1962 C.P. Snow oil on canvas 127.3 x 96.5 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1962 Cecil Day-Lewis oil on canvas 76.2 x 101.6 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1962 Cyril Connolly oil on canvas 101.6 x 76.3 Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1962 J. B. Priestley oil on board 122.3 x 83.8 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1962 John Osborne, John Whiting, Arnold Wesker oil on canvas 96.9 x 127 cm Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas |
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| 1960 Evelyn Waugh charcoal on paper 49 x 34.3 cm |
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| 1960 Gilbert Harding pencil 35.6 x 25.1 cm © National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| 1960 The Kitchen' by Sir Arnold Wesker, Royal Court Theatre pencil and ink 25 x 34.5 cm |
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| 1960 Westminster Abbey, Re-Opening of Courts lithograph |
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| 1960 Westminster Abbey, Re-Opening of Courts lithograph (detail) |
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| 1960 Westminster Abbey, Re-Opening of Courts lithograph (detail) |
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| 1960 William Empson 48.8 x 33.5 cm |
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| c1960 E.M. Forster pen and ink 17.8 x 12.7 cm © National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| c1960 Evelyn Waugh pencil 50.5 x 35.5 cm © National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| c1960s Sir Compton Mackenzie pencil on paper 34.5 x 25 cm National Galleries Scotland |
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