‘Jankel Adler: A “Degenerate” Artist in Britain, 1940-49’

Jankel Adler, Mother and Child. Private Collection © DACS 2019

Ben Uri Gallery, London

Marking the 70th anniversary of the death of Polish-Jewish émigré Jankel Adler (1895-1949) BURU’s exhibition explores his nine-year British exile. Adler fled Nazi Germany in 1933, was declared ‘degenerate’ in his absence, and arrived in Scotland (via Paris) in 1940. Influenced by Picasso and Klee, in both Glasgow, and later London, he introduced remarkable stylistic and technical innovations, particularly in printmaking, to the next generation of British artists. Drawn primarily from private collections, this exhibition provides a much-needed opportunity to re-assess a still neglected artist, now considered one of the most important European modernists working in mid-century Britain.

Although under-appreciated in Britain both during his lifetime and in the years immediately following his death, the major 2018 retrospective, Jankel Adler und die Avantgarde: Chagall, Dix, Klee, Picasso, at the Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany, has consolidated Adler’s reputation across Europe. Ben Uri’s exhibition provides an opportunity to re-assess an artist now considered to be one of the most important European modernists working in mid-century Britain.

The exhibition will be open 11-5 pm Monday to Sunday from 3 June – 16 June
It will then be open for the next four Mondays 11-5 pm on 17, 24 June, 1 and 8 July