MacShane Hails Topolski Museum
18 March 2009
Labour MP Denis MacShane has welcomed the launch of the Museum dedicated to the life and work of Felix Topolski, the Polish born artist, intellectual and sketcher who lived in London from the late 1930s onwards.
Topolski was a witness at many of the most important events of 20th century Europe and after 1945 around the world. His drawings and sketches of the wars, liberations, famines, political upheavals, the world of film, theatre, music and film as well as drawings of the historic people he met have never been matched.
Now his son, Daniel Topolski, legendary coach to the Oxford rowing team in the 1970s, has found public and private funds to open fully his father’s studio underneath the archway on Hungerford Bridge beside the Royal Festival Hall.
Topolski’s masterpiece, the giant mural called Chronicle of the Century, can be seen there as well as hundreds of other works.
"This is history put in front of our faces by an eye-witness who drew the most important events of the 20th century and the most interesting people. I hope schools arrange visits because once you see a Topolski as I did as a boy you are hooked by his brilliant draughtsmanship and a sense that you see what is happening and who is important in a completely different fashion," said MacShane.
"This is perfect gem of a museum and now that the South Bank, from County Hall to Tate Modern, has been turned into Europe’s golden mile of art and culture, I hope as many visitors as possible go and enjoy the Topolski museum."