XX: White Modern Cave Painting @ RTA

13.6.26-27.6.26

 

Franciszka Themerson (b. Warsaw, 28 June 1907 – 29 June 1988) was a Polish- British painter, illustrator, filmmaker and stage designer. As a key member of the London Group, her postwar ‘Bi-Abstract’ paintings are held in several permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Britain Gallery and the Tate Modern, London, the British Museum, and Muzeum Mazowieckie in Płock. Themerson collaborated with her husband, the writer Stefan Themerson, on experimental films. She also worked as an illustrator, and in 1948 co-founded the publishing company Gaberbocchus Press. 

 

Part 1 is a presentation of research material from the ongoing treatment of a 1949 work by Franciszka Themerson, in collaboration with conservator Finn McGrath. The exhibition's title comes from a term used by Themerson to describe her practice, as coined in her 1952 essay ‘Bi-Abstract Pictures’. 

 

On display is a 1993 Japanese edition of her illustrated comic Ubu the King, adapted from an original play by Alfred Jarry. The exhibition also includes olfactive design by DENIM-SYKES. For this show, a fragrance was created using n-Butyl acetate (99%) – a flammable ester commonly used as a solvent to clean paintings, and noted for its sickly sweet odor. It has low toxicity in less concentrated volume

 

Part 2 is a public poster campaign at various sites across London. Featuring texts centred around restoration, decay, and immortality. Please turn over for a map of locations. 

 

With words by Milo Christie, Eilidh Duffy, Johanna Lee Owen, Sus Van Sant, Sophia Walsh, Mira Winding.

 

Photomicrographs and MA-XRF by Finn McGrath.

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