Robert Lenkiewicz: Paintings and Projects - Hardcover

Francis Mallett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0953137090 ISBN 13: 9780953137091

Publisher: White Lane Press, 2006

Synopsis

A stunning new monograph on the charismatic figurative
painter, who died in 2002. A large format hardback book (288mm x 290mm)
containing 192 pages and 80 colour plates.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Following on from the pictorial biography 'A Portrait of
Robert Lenkiewicz: Photographs by Dr Philip Stokes', White Lane Press have
now produced the definitive monograph on the life and paintings of Robert
Lenkiewicz.

An illustrated text by Francis Mallett explores the motivation behind
Lenkiewicz's method of presenting large-scale 'Projects' on social issues:
paintings and research notes on themes such as Vagrancy (1973), Mental
Handicap (1976), Old Age (1979), Suicide (1980), and Death (1982), aimed at
raising awareness of shunned sections of the community.

The text also elucidates the artist's thinking on fanaticism and addictive
behaviour. Drawing on his personal observations and research into fanatical
belief systems (such as the 17th century witch hunting craze) in his 25,000
volume library, Lenkiewicz's conclusion - that what he called 'the falling
in love experience' was identical to the cravings and delusions of addicts
and fanatics - remains as unsettling now as when the artist first developed
his ideas in Projects such as Love & Mediocrity (1976), Jealousy (1977),
Orgasm (1978) and The Painter with Mary (1981).

Above all, the book's 80 large colour plates demonstrate Lenkiewicz's
extraordinary gift for communicating ideas through haunting visual
metaphors and situate him as a post-war British portrait painter of
enormous ability.

From the Inside Flap:

ROBERT LENKIEWICZ was born in London in 1941, the son of
refugees who ran a Jewish hotel in Fordwych Road whose elderly residents
included survivors of the Nazi horror. At sixteen Lenkiewicz attended St
Martin's College of Art & Design and later the Royal Academy. However, he
was virtually impervious to contemporary art fashions, being more
interested in his favourite paintings in the National Gallery. Inspired by
the example of Albert Schweitzer, Lenkiewicz threw open the doors of his
studios to anyone in need of a roof - down and outs, addicts, criminals and
the mentally ill congregated there. These individuals were the subjects of
his paintings as a young man.

After moving to Plymouth in 1969, the artist attracted so many vagrants and
street alcoholics that Lenkiewicz was forced to commandeer derelict
warehouses to house them. One of these warehouses also served as a studio
and in 1973 became the exhibition space for the Vagrancy Project. The
Vagrancy Project consisted in paintings of the vagrants and a large book of
notes written by the `dossers' themselves and those involved in their care
and control. The format of the `Project' - combining thematically linked
paintings with the publication of research notes and the collected
observations of the sitters - was to be used consistently throughout
Lenkiewicz's career. Projects such as Mental Handicap (1976), Old Age
(1979), Suicide (1980), and Death (1982), continued to examine the lives of
ostracised, hidden sections of the community.

In a parallel line of inquiry, Lenkiewicz often adopted a metaphorical
pictorial style to portray 'human physiology in a state of crisis' in
Projects such as Love & Mediocrity (1976), Jealousy (1977), Orgasm (1978)
and The Painter with Mary (1981). These Projects examined `the falling in
love experience' and led the artist to believe that the physiology of
desire itself was `the straight road to fascism' - the tendency to treat
another person as property. His own observations were supported by his
25,000 volume private library, which contained large sections on
philosophy, theology, fascism, anti-Semitism, the witchcraft phenomenon and
the occult, and which he viewed as a history of `fanatical belief systems'.
Lenkiewicz concluded that the kinds of sensations people felt when a lover
abandoned them or when their cherished beliefs were threatened were
identical to the withdrawal symptoms and anxieties experienced by addicts
or alcoholics. The Projects thus became an extended study in `addictive
behaviour' - the title of his 20th Project, unfinished at the time of his
death.

Robert Lenkiewicz died on 5 August 2002 from a serious heart condition. In
his obituary of Lenkiewicz, art critic David Lee observed: `Robert's
greatest gift was to show us that an artist could be genuinely concerned
about social and domestic issues and attempt the difficult task of
expressing this conscience through the deeply unfashionable medium of
figurative painting. In that sense he was one of few serious painters of
contemporary history.'

About this edition

• Publisher: White Lane Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0953137090
• ISBN 13: 9780953137091
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Francis Mallett
• Illustrator: Derek Harris