Entitled Punks, Princes and Protests: The Chronicles of Feliks Topolski RA, it was organised by the Granville-Skarbek Anglo-Polish Cultural Exchange and the Topolski Memoir Charity.
RA in the title stands for “Royal Academician.”
The exhibition showcases Feliks Topolski’s lifelong commitment to reportage, using the occasion of Charles III’s coronation to highlight how the artist oscillated between the Establishment and counter-culture.
Born in Warsaw in 1907, Topolski graduated from the city’s Fine Arts Academy. Having settled in England in 1935, he was quickly welcomed into London’s social, artistic and intellectual circles, becoming a popular portrait artist and war correspondent for the Polish and British press.
In 1958, Prince Philip commissioned him to create a panoramic painting of the 1953 Coronation of Elizabeth II for Buckingham Palace. In 1975, he began working on the ‘Topolski Chronicle’. Known as the ‘Topolski Century’, it documented the changing currents of British history and lifestyle. The artist left it unfinished at the time of his death in 1989.
The Granville-Skarbek Anglo-Polish Cultural Exchange celebrates the contribution of the Polish diaspora to British culture and society. The project is named after Krystyna Skarbek a.k.a. Christine Granville, a Polish-Jewish countess, who became Britain’s first female SEO [Special Operations Executive] agent, and who saved countless lives as the longest-serving operative of WWII.
The Topolski Memoir Charity promotes the artist’s legacy. It hosts an archive, curates exhibitions, and runs educational programmes and workshops.
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