His visit comes a year after the city's Museum of Art acquired Demarco’s collection of more than 1,300 works by leading 20th-century artists, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tadeusz Kantor, Joseph Beuys, Pat Douthwaite and Daniel Spoerri.
The museum also received 865 boxes containing his extensive archive of photographs, posters, films, catalogues, correspondence and curatorial notes.
Photo courtesy of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Danuta Matloch/MKiDN
Demarco, who turned 96 earlier this year, is being accompanied by Terry Ann Newman, an artist and director of the Demarco European Art Foundation, and Małgorzata Sady, a curator and translator with an interest in Central European art.
While in Poland, Demarco will participate in the cataloguing of his archival collection.
He said last year that he was extremely happy to see part of his collection find a home in Łódź.
Leszek Karczewski, deputy director of the Łódź Museum of Art, told Poland’s PAP news agency that the basic work of sorting the Demarco archive had already been completed.
"We hope, however, that thanks to Richard's assistance we shall be able to read his and other persons' handwritten notes, clarify the dating of some of the items, and identify people in photos," he said.
Demarco is a longtime friend of Poland and a champion of Anglo-Polish cultural ties. He has helped develop cultural links with Poland for several decades, making about 50 visits to the country since the 1970s.
Veteran Scottish artist and art collector Richard Demarco, pictured during a visit to Poland on May 15, 2026. Photo: PAP/Marian Zubrzycki
His Polish distinctions include the Gold Gloria Artis Medal of Cultural Merit and an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Fine Arts in the southwestern city of Wrocław.
A Q&A session with Demarco is scheduled to be held at the Łódź museum on September 24.
(mk/gs)