Franciszka Themerson

By 1950 Franciszka Themerson had developed a distinctive painting style. She drew small figures into a surface covered in oil paint and placed them within abstract forms. Here, these flying figures refer to her experiences in London. She described spending ‘days in the City, having endless talks with bowler-hatted businessmen who introduced me to the fascinating games of small talk and avoiding issues’. She began to sketch them, putting propellers on their noses and letting them fly. She wondered, ‘how would all these little very important people behave in my abstract canvases?’.