Slawomir Blatton was elected to The London Group in 1997. The words below are written by Diana Blatton.
SLAWOMIR BLATTON
1943-2025
Sławomir, or Sławek as he was known to friends, was born in Limanowa, Poland on the 18th March 1943. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 1963-1969 and graduated with an MA in Painting and Graphics. Sławek and his contemporaries at the Academy enjoyed their status within the Polish cultural scene and benefitted from the recognition of an official Artists’ Union. Nevertheless, they were the generation of ‘68, and with that spirit in mind, demonstrated a rebellious confidence, experimentalism and curiosity about international art and relations.
In 1970, Sławek moved to London, enrolling in the Working Men’s College in Camden to learn English. He quickly discovered the art department in the college and gained access to the etching studio, becoming friends with the teacher who when retiring, handed over the reins to Sławek. He was a patient, kind and dedicated teacher for many years, loved by his students.
Soon after arriving in London he had a show at the International Art Centre (now defunct) in the Elephant and Castle where he met Euan Uglow, who had a studio nearby. Uglow offered the depressing opinion that ‘no one would appreciate his East European style of painting’ – unsurprising considering the contrast between Uglow’s measured approach and the young Pole’s expressive painting. Subsequently, Sławek continued to be included in numerous national exhibitions and was notably included in Pole Position: Polish Art in Britain 1939-1989 at the Graves Gallery in Sheffield in 2014, one of the first comprehensive exhibitions to recognise the contribution of Polish artists to the British art landscape.
Over the years he had many studios but the first was a Space studio in Berry Street, Clerkenwell, where he mixed with other London Group members including Paula Rego, William ‘Bill’ Mills, C. Morey de Morand, Susan Haire and Michael Buhler. A Berry Street party was always special and is where I, Diana, met Sławek in 1980. He loved parties and gathered many friends of all kinds, a true collector of people, internationalist in every way. He leaves a huge body of work and the indelible mark of a huge personality, which our daughter Phoebe and I, and many others, will always treasure.
