Reclusive Artist Exhibits ‘Extraordinary’ Work in UK After 50 Years

A reclusive artist whose work once stood alongside those of René Magritte and Salvador Dalí has agreed to his first major exhibition in decades. Half a century after withdrawing from the art scene, Henry Orlik, now 77 and living near Marlborough in Wiltshire, is set to showcase his dream-like paintings.

In his 20s, Orlik’s exceptional talent was recognized. During the 1970s, he exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and held a sold-out one-man show at the Acoris surrealist art center in London. He also participated in mixed Surrealist Masters exhibitions featuring some of the world’s greatest names.

Critics praised his work, with one describing it as “technically brilliant” and predicting that Orlik would soon rise to prominence.

However, disillusioned by the greed of art dealers and the meager portion of sale prices that came back to him, Orlik withdrew from public life. Refusing to let dealers handle his work, he continued to paint in relative obscurity, supported by his mother in a council house.

Now, he has agreed to unveil paintings that have remained hidden for years. The exhibition, titled “Cosmos of Dreams,” will open at the Maas Gallery in London on 9 August.

The show is curated by Grant Ford, a picture expert from the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and a former specialist at Sotheby’s. Ford believes Orlik’s paintings are “mind-bogglingly good.”

“I have been involved in the art world for 38 years and I have never come across such an extraordinary group of paintings by an artist who should be considered one of our greats,” Ford said. “He conjures extraordinary, other-worldly scenes filled with anthropomorphic landscapes, undulating bodies, and solid architectural forms. These dream-like paintings examine the fluid nature of time, space, memory, and experience and are not bound by rules of reality.”

Henry Orlik was born in Ankum, Germany. During World War II, his Polish father served in the allied forces under British command. His mother, of Belarusian origin, was deported for slave labor during the Nazi invasion. The family relocated to Britain in 1948, moving between various resettlement camps until they eventually settled in Swindon. Orlik’s art training included Gloucester College in Cheltenham, where he mastered the intricate process of creating paintings with thousands of tiny, spiraled brushstrokes and multiple layers.

When asked why Orlik finally agreed to the exhibition, Ford explained, “He accepts the fact that his work is of exceptionally high quality and unique and that it needs to be seen. Because he was so introverted, all he’s done for the last 50 years has just been painting and painting.”

A serious stroke in 2022, which paralyzed Orlik’s right side, took away his ability to paint. While he was in the hospital, his housing association evicted him, resulting in the disappearance of more than 200 paintings. According to Ford, the loss “really hurt” Orlik, and both the police and the local MP are investigating.

Ford discovered Orlik’s extraordinary talent after a friend’s solicitor reached out for help in finding the missing paintings. To his astonishment, the artist still possessed several hundred other paintings. The ones in the exhibition are priced from £3,000 to £40,000, and Ford expects their value to appreciate soon due to the enduring interest in surrealism. “People are going to fall in love with them,” he said.

The exhibition, organized by Winsor Birch, a fine art company from Wiltshire, runs from 9-20 August at the Maas Gallery in London. It then transfers to the Parade in Marlborough from 23 August to 6 September.

Source: the Guardian