Punkty i obrazy. Korespondencja z Katy Bentall
Notes and Images. Correspondence with Katy Bentall

Summary/Abstract: I met Katy Bentall in 2007 in Warsaw, at a dinner given upon the occasion of the arrival of Richard Demarco, an accomplished collector of Polish art. I talked with him about the Little Sparta garden of Ian Hamilton Finlay and his visit at the studio in 36 Smolna Street. “you simply must see that place”, he said at the end of the evening and his determined voice became the reason why several months later I phoned Katy Bentall with a request to view the studio. That meeting became the beginning of our acquaintance and numerous conversations, which slowly disclosed the past of this spot, permeated with images and reminiscences, and the story of its successive users, including the collector and sculptor Karol Tchorek, his son Mariusz Tchorek, and Katy, who after Mariusz’s death took care of the legacy of her father-in-law and husband while executing her own works at the studio. It is difficult to briefly describe the vastness and diversity of the valuable archival collections over which she assumed custody and which I was able to freely examine and browse through – canvases and books, letters and sketchbooks, plaster models and photographs, some of which are described and reproduced in this publication. The images, emotions, and recollections that emerged in the course of successive meetings remained more intangible. When I asked myself what I would like to write about for “Konteksty” I thought that it would be a good thing to return to that ephemeral substance of our conversations and to recall some of those contents as much as possible, in a tête-à-tête with Katy. Since we were unable to conduct such a talk personally this text ultimately emerged from our e-mail correspondence from 19 July to 7 September 2017.

• Details
• Contents