Pole Position

PIOTR MLECZKO – PRISONERS FIGHTING OVER FOOD (1948)

I am bowled over by Pole Position: Polish Art in Britain 1939-89, an exhibition on at the Graves Gallery until June.  Two galleries stuffed with vibrant, expressive paintings. The first time I went I found it so overwhelming I had to leave, promising myself I would return, which I did last week.

In the painting above, concentration camp inmates scrap over bread while a guard beats them with a truncheon and fellow inmates watch in horror from behind their hands.  The scene was witnessed by the Piotr Mleczko, who had nervous breakdowns after the war and used art as therapy.