1918 - 2000
OTTO MACIAG Ë› WAS ART MASTER AT MONMOUTH SCHOOL FROM 1947 TO 1978 This exhibition recognises his work, his lasting influence on his students and his legacy to art at Monmouth
Otto Maciąg was born in Sopron, in Hungary, on 18th March 1918 and given his ‘name day’ on 18th November, exactly one week after the official ending of the First World War. The family was en route to Poland from their burnt-out home in Bosnia. The recreation of the independent Polish state was confirmed by the victorious Allied powers through the Treaty of Versailles signed in June 1919.
Jan Matejko - Battle of Grunwald
The family home
Józef Chełmoński - Cossacks on the March
Otto and his brothers, Jόzef and Ludwik, shared a passion for art and admired the works of the great Polish 19th century romantic and realist painters, such as Jan Matejko and Jόzef Chełmoński. Otto went to school in Biała Podlaska, Poland, where he matriculated in 1938. The outbreak of war in 1939 would shape Otto’s future. During the invasion of Poland, he accompanied the evacuation south and found himself trapped between Russian and German forces. He crossed the Romanian border on 18th September and was interned at Ocele Mari for two months before escaping, with forged papers, first to Beirut and finally to Marseilles in 1940, where he joined the Polish Army. After the fall of France, Otto made his way to Britain and joined an anti-aircraft artillery unit stationed in Scotland. During this time, he joined wood engraving and linocut classes organised by two distinguished Scottish artists, Winifred and Alison McKenzie, and he also studied life drawing at Edinburgh College of Art.
From Otto’s wartime sketchbook
In February 1942, the Polish 1st Armoured Division was created at Duns, in Scotland, and he became a member of a force which, at its peak, numbered 16,000 soldiers. On 29th July 1944, Otto took part in the Normandy landings. The division drove south to capture the high ground north of Falaise and in bloody combat surrounded and totally defeated the 7th German Army: this proved to be a decisive battle in the victory of the Allied Forces. Otto continued to be involved in conflict for a further 10 months, through Belgium and Holland. In April 1945, the 1st Armoured entered Germany, in the area of Emsland. On 6th May, the Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. Otto was despatched back to Scotland and became a troop commander at the cadet officer school of artillery. At the end of the war, he was permitted to study at the Liverpool College of Art, where he also honed his use of the English language.
In addition to his painting and ceramics, Otto was also a very fine illustrator and regularly produced beautiful work for the Polish Daily newspaper and for several books by Wiesław Antoni Lasocki, including The Tourist Bison.
Otto’s portraits were often quick and informal, made in pen and ink, charcoal, pencil or Biro. To the left is a drawing of Henryk Kątny, whom Otto met during the War: they remained friends for the rest of Otto’s life. Henryk died only a few years ago, in Devon.
Another close friend was Dr Wit Tarrawski (below), a onetime President of the Joseph Conrad Society, who lived in Monmouth.
Above, various sketches of Otto’s daughter Anna and below is Philip Chatfield.
Polish exiles were usually confined to watch-repairing, farming or mining but thanks to the enlightenment of Monmouth School headmaster Cecil Cullingford, in 1947 Otto was appointed Head of Art, a post he held until his retirement in 1978. He taught drawing, painting, ceramics, history of art and architecture up to A Level.
The Art Block used to be located on top of the Gymnasium
Princess Margaret showed a keen interest in Otto’s ceramics class
Boys were frequently asked to be models and Otto would produce his own drawings alongside the class
Discussing ideas with a young Philip Chatfield
Otto retired at the age of 60 to devote more time to his own art. His prolific output includes sketches made during his war years, and subsequently many portraits and landscapes that frequently demonstrate his experimentation with light and texture, along with his fascination with water and moonlight. His early respect for Chełmόnski is evident in his favourite subjects of the Wye, Monnow and Dee rivers. He mastered oils and watercolour; adapted to acrylics during a six-week period as a tutor in St Lucia, when the humidity prevented him from using oil paint; produced wood engravings and linocuts and, indeed, happily worked in any medium to hand – even the humble Biro.
St Thomas’s Square by Moonlight
All images courtesy of Monmouthshire Museums Service
Bailey Pitt, Watery Lane
River Monnow
Railway Bridge
Cleddon Bog
A small but significant ceramic by Otto is owned by the Imperial War Museum. It depicts Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear that was the mascot of the 22nd Polish Artillery Support Company (22 Kompania Zaopartrywania Artylerii) of the Second Polish Corps. Found in Persian mountains in 1942, the bear travelled with the unit throughout the Middle East and Italy. He is reported to have helped move artillery ammunition at Monte Cassino, as depicted in the plaque. After the war he was kept at Edinburgh Zoo and was made a life member of the Scottish Polish Society.
Š Imperial War Museum
Wojtek died in 1963.
Otto’s passion for art was infectious, and his knowledge of art history was inspirational: he revolutionised the teaching of art at Monmouth School. This exhibition celebrates his own life as an artist, showcases the careers of some of his students, and in a very small way attempts to record his legacy. His influence on a number of the professional artists represented here is expressed in their own words.
If you would like to see more of his work, please visit Monmouth Museum, which is currently staging a retrospective exhibition.
1918 - 2000
The Right Revd CHRISTOPHER HERBERT (1953 - 60) Art Historian
Christopher published a book in 2017 entitled Foreshadowing the Reformation: Art and Religion in the 15th century Netherlands(Routledge), recently issued in a paperback edition.
Christopher Herbert was educated at Monmouth School; the University of Wales, Lampeter; Wells Theological College and the University of Bristol. He was ordained at Hereford Cathedral in1967 and has been Vicar of The Bourne in Farnham, Surrey; Archdeacon of Dorking; and was consecrated as Bishop of St Albans in 1995. In 1999 he entered the House of Lords.
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I owe Otto Maciąg more than I can express. I was no great artist, but Otto kindled my interest in art so that from adolescence onwards I visited galleries and read widely as an amateur in Art History. That interest was deepened when much later in my life I read for an M-Phil and a PhD at the University of Leicester in the Art History field. In addition, in retirement I lecture on medieval art for The Arts Society to groups in Europe and the UK and also lecture on River Cruises. I remember Otto daily because Tony Cullingford, son of a former headmaster of Monmouth, kindly gave me one of Otto’s paintings . It now hangs proudly on a bedroom wall. Otto quite simply opened my eyes. It was a huge and lifeenriching gift.
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The Ceramic Murals in Monmouth School Chapel produced by Otto
JOHN ROGERS (1944 - 51) Painter In a pre-digital age, John worked tirelessly for Monmouth clubs and institutions including the Centre Players, Monmouth Museum, the Conservative Club, Monmouth Golf Club and others, producing stage scenery, hand-lettered posters, leaflets and signs. An accomplished portraitist, his graphic training is clearly visible in his many watercolours and ink drawings of local characters, scenes and architectural views of Monmouth and the surrounding area. With his wife Sue, John owned and ran the muchloved Foxhunter CafĂŠ at no. 65, Monnow Street from 1962 to 1988. A lifelong member of the Wye Valley Art Society, a small number of his portraits and landscapes are in the collections of Monmouth Conservative Club and Monmouth School, but the bulk of his work continues to be in private hands. Most of the paintings and drawings reproduced belong to his daughter, Louise.
John Rogers was born in Monmouth and studied art under Otto MaciÄ…g in the mid-1940s before attending Newport College of Art and Design, where he specialised in calligraphy and graphic design.
KEITH UNDERWOOD “ (1946 - 53) Artist
Otto Maciąg joined Monmouth School a year after I arrived there in 1946. I had always been keen on drawing, painting and making things but the Art department was my first experience of formal, creative teaching. The art room became a safe haven, and the introduction of a pottery room in the basement of Country House was an absolute bonus. Otto greatly expanded artistic pursuits, supporting the Arts and Crafts Society and encouraging the study of Art History. I went on to the Newport School of Art and, in my final year, I gained a David Murray Landscape Scholarship from the Royal Academy, a place at the Royal College of Art and a Leverhulme Research Award in Fine Art for study in France. Otto nurtured the processes that led to my success and so it was a privilege to return to Monmouth for a few weeks to cover for him due to his indisposition. Over a lifetime in art I have taught in London and exhibited with the New English Art Club and ‘Young Contemporaries’ in London and at venues in Cardiff and Chepstow. I’m even in Who’s Who in Art. Heraldry and calligraphy have played a large part in my work and I have been awarded several civic commissions and made four parchments, including one for the Third Rifles Regiment. I shall ever be grateful to Otto for his encouragement and his example, always remembering the moment after I had left the School when he asked my advice on his great painting of Jan Sobieski. I felt deeply honoured.
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Cover of a booklet written and illustrated by Keith to commemorate the 950th anniversary of the founding of Chepstow Castle.
John, 1981 - Oil
Possibly unique among his fellow artists, Keith still has work that he produced during his time in the Art Room, from Form 2A (above) to Sixth Form (below and right), which clearly reflect Otto’s influence.
Bronze for Onitsha Cathedral, Nigeria
With Otto and his wife Alina at an exhibition of Keith’s work in Chepstow.
Above, stained glass windows, Bootle and Chepstow Town Gate (below)
Right: for many years Keith, in the guise of Brother Thomas, instructed young pupils from Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools in the duties and daily activities of a Cistercian monk at Tintern Abbey. In his hands is a ceramic madonna that he created to accompany him in that role.
MICK ARNOLD (1953 - 60) Painter
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I left Monmouth School and the haven of the Art Room in the summer of 1960 and became a student at Newport College of Art, where I studied Painting until 1964, followed by a further year at Cardiff College of Art. My times spent in the Art Room were amongst my happiest in the School. During our final year, Otto allowed a few of us the luxury of working in a small ante-room attached to the main Art Studio. Here, surrounded by a myriad of dusty volumes, we studied history of art and architecture. In his quiet, unassuming way, Otto introduced us to the eagerly awaited ‘Studio’ magazine, and we had an insight into the living world of art. I realised this was the world to which I wanted to belong. Otto introduced us to oil paint and working outside school “en plein air”. The river bank became our ‘Giverny’ à la Monet. It is thanks to Otto that, for more than forty- five years I have had a fulfilled and happy professional life, both as an art teacher and practising painter. For most of that time I worked abroad. From 1968 – 1980 in Germany, and from 1980 –2011 in Brussels. My early paintings were ‘systems-based’, but gradually gave way to larger, spontaneous abstract and mixed-media work. Recently, I have reverted to more traditional media and now work on a smaller scale. These paintings derive in the main from landscape and the sea. Although figurative, they are still a synthesis between my personal world and the natural world. I have been a tutor in Italy and, since 2010, had exhibitions in Brussels, Canterbury, Margate and Ramsgate.
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Cold Sea - II
Evening Tide
Landscape Bédoin
Seascape
Landscape Bédoin
DAVID PARFITT (1954-59) Painter
David Parfitt with (left) Island at Midday and Island at Sundown
David Parfitt was born in 1943 at Pontypool, and grew up in Blaenavon, in those days a coal mining town at the head of the Afon Llwyd Valley. He went to Abersychan Grammar School and Monmouth School, then studied painting and drawing at Newport College of Art and the Royal College of Art. His early paintings and drawings were of family and friends and of the gaunt mountains and industrial valleys of South Wales. The effects of changing light and seasons and the meetings and contrasts between the man-made and the natural, were then as now constant themes in his work; profound familiarity with his surroundings has always been an essential condition of his vision. Now he finds this special intensity at home beside the tidal Thames in West London. Here it is present for him in the look of things he has come to know well – the river and the eyot opposite his house, the tree-lined banks, the bridges, pubs and tower blocks, and the passers-by along the towpath and foreshore. Mr and Mrs Michael Dobell
February Twilight
Clem Norman
David is a member of the New English Art Club. His work is represented by Messum’s, 28 Cork Street, London W1S 3NG. Selection of exhibitions catalogues: Images of St Paul’s in the 21st Century published by Asgill House Trust and St Paul’s Cathedral Foundation 2010 The Magic and Poetry of everyday Life: Paintings Past and Present from the New English Art Club IBSN 978-1-905883-69-1 published by David Messum Fine Art 2010 David Parfitt ISBN 978-1-908486-25-7 published by David Messum Fine Art 2012
Bridge and Boatyard, Spring Morning
David Parfitt, Never the Same River Twice ISBN 978-1-908486-79-0 published by David Messum Fine Art 2015
DAVID EVANS (1957 - 64) Designer
“
I owe a near fifty-year career as a designer to the support and advice given to me by Otto. He taught his students the value of experimentation and I recall an occasion when, as a member of his Sixth Form Art set, we were drawing on the riverbank. Otto picked up a discarded ice-lolly stick, whittled it into a nib-shape and proceeded to use it as a dip-pen, with Indian ink, thereby illustrating that the approach and goal are generally more important than the tools you use. His encouragement helped me win a place at art college and gain a degree in graphic design. I was also made the first student representative on the Welsh Arts Council. On graduation, I co-founded a design practice and, whilst lecturers, family and friends counselled against this venture, using the very reasonable argument that I had little money and no commercial experience, whenever I saw Otto he never failed to express his interest and enthusiasm for what I was doing. I have been fortunate to work on very diverse projects for a wide range of clients - from start-up businesses to international companies. Notably, I’ve designed and built exhibition stands for Dunlop and produced a limited edition history for Teacher’s Whisky. The Post Office commissioned pictorial aerogrammes and, with my business partner Sherren McCabe-Finlayson, we beat off stiff opposition to create a heritage interpretation programme in Abu Dhabi. We are members of the Association for Heritage Interpretation. I’m proud to have designed the Timeline that features in the William Jones Building. And I feel privileged to have enjoyed a lifetime in art that was so greatly influenced by Otto’s passion and direction.
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ANTHONY EVELEIGH (1966 - 70) Sculptor “
During Otto’s lessons he patiently taught that there are different ways of seeing things, and demonstrated how, with just a regulation HB pencil, it is possible to produce the illusion of texture, structure, distance and light. He also introduced us to European Church Architecture and an understanding of the structure and reasons behind building. It was from this that I first became excited about making things. I won a place on Cardiff Art School Foundation Course then went to Canterbury Art School for three years to study Sculpture: in my final year I was voted as a ‘New Contemporary’ and, along with five other sculpture students, my work was exhibited at the International Art Centre in London. I left Canterbury with a 1st Class degree in Fine Art, with a commendation in Art History and Liberal Studies, and headed for St. Martin’s Art School in London. But unable to afford materials I was obliged to leave and take up a part-time teaching post at Carmarthen Art School.
A project to build three wooden carriages, for a private railway in Ireland, resulted in a commission to build a replica ‘ Puffing Billy’ for Beamish Museum. Other unusual projects followed and, along with my son, we became the first ‘wooden rail-wrights’ in over two hundred years when we built a quarter mile section of an oak rail waggon-way across the Northumberland Landscape.
Attempting to make a living during the early 80s from sculpture wasn’t working and so I took an interest in traditional Japanese carpentry which led to me building timber frame glass houses. This embraced a lot of the things Otto had taught - light, structure and form - and thus began many years of conservatory making.
I am completing my last Orangery before I plan to build a tree-house and then return to sculpture.
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TIM PITT-LEWIS (1967 - 74) Architect Tim is the youngest of three brothers who attended Monmouth School during the 1960-70s, all taught by Otto! Having studied at the Oxford School of Architecture, Oxford Polytechnic, he obtained a Diploma in Architecture in 1981 and qualified as an architect in 1982. Early employment included working in Wantage in Oxfordshire for one of his College tutors, before spending over twenty years working in Monmouth as an Associate at a local practice. In 2007, Tim set up his own practice in Monmouth, working as a sole practitioner, which continues to keep him very busy. The majority of his work has been on residential projects, but in recent years he has concentrated more on conservation work, undertaking numerous renovation projects on Listed Buildings and Churches. He is also a Quinquennial Architect for the Diocese of Monmouth, the Diocese of Hereford, The Lower Wye Methodist Circuit, The Gwent Hills and Vales Methodist Circuit, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Monmouth and Monmouth Baptist Church. Tim is a keen watercolour painter, a member of the Wye Valley Art Society and his paintings have been exhibited locally in Society and solo exhibitions over many years.
Redbrook
Bernithan Court before restoration
Eilian Donan Castle - watercolour
Bernithan Court after restoration
Lighthouse - pastel Brocote
PHILIP CHATFIELD “ (1972-77) Sculptor
I arrived as a new boy to Monmouth School in January 1972. The following day, as a lowly third former, I met Mr Maciąg for my first Art lesson. The art class was like being in a sanctuary, with a good library and a pottery room. Otto encouraged me as I studied lettering and it wasn’t long before I was taking on jobs for the School and even the local Town Council. He helped to guide me as I made the difficult choice of either becoming a Subaltern in the Commando Gunners of the Royal Artillery or taking a place to study Fine Art and Sculpture at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In later years, Otto asked me to carve various memorials for some of his Polish friends and eventually he conceived the idea of a memorial for Women at War. Initially, this was to be in the garden of Monmouth Castle Regimental Museum but eventually we had a meeting with the History department of HMSG and the project was completed and installed in the grounds of the School in 2002. Sadly, Otto did not live to see the end product. Before he died, Otto had asked me to pay him the honour of carving his memorial stone for his final resting place in Osbaston cemetery, Monmouth, which included a relief carving of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa.
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These photographs show the development from raw material to the finished Italian marble bust of Petty Officer Edgar Evans RN, who was a member of the fateful expedition to the South Pole in 1912, when all five members of the ‘Polar Party’ died. It sits in the Swansea Museum and was unveiled in 1994 for the Scott Polar Research Centre, Cambridge and the Captain Scott Society of Cardiff.
Other local commissions include the Virgin Mary statue in St Mary’s Monmouth, Our Lady of Tintern Abbey (shown left), the statue of Britannia on top of the Naval temple at the Kymin, and the relief panel in Monmouth School for Boys’ Sports Centre.
(Above) Atop the Merchant Navy monument in Barry and the Vale of Glamorgan, made in 1995/6. Photo by Huw Evans taken for The Times Newspaper.
‘Work experience’ for a Monmouth School for Boys’ pupil.
SIMON PASCOE (1972-79) Artist
“
Otto was one of the most influential figures in my childhood. Yes, he was a great teacher, but there was something about him, his very individual approach to the process of teaching and learning, which left an indelible mark on my own creative narrative. Since leaving Monmouth School nearly 40 years ago I have followed a professional artistic career spanning over 30 years of cross-artform practice, combining visual art, performance and live sound. I am and have been an actor, performer and storyteller; director, producer and musician; teacher, mentor and stand-up comic; lyricist, percussionist, band frontman and Master of Ceremonies. Together with my partner, Caitlin Easterby, I am a cofounder, co-director and lead artist of Red Earth. Based in Brighton, for almost 30 years we have been creating unique site-specific, inter-disciplinary installations and performances across national and international landscapes. Often engaging the public in the creative process, our projects bring people together in participatory events that explore our natural and cultural heritage, transforming our understanding of the places where we live. We have produced work in Europe, Java, Japan and Mongolia, exploring the complex relationship between geology, archaeology, ecology and the cultural landscape. Recent projects for the National Trust, at Berrington Hall in Herefordshire, and at Countryfile Live at Blenheim Palace, have won us three awards. We are currently looking to develop a project at Stonehenge, in partnership with the National Trust and English Heritage.
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For more information on Red Earth projects please view our website: www.redearth.co.uk
JIM BUDD (1974 - 81) Stained Glass Artist “
My favourite class room by far was the art room or more specifically the pottery room, and even though I gave up art before I had barely started, I was able later to enjoy pottery with Otto as a subsidiary subject and I think there the seed was sown, although it took a number of years to propagate! A love of architecture and a sensibility towards the church drew me towards stained glass.
Painting a new set of stained glass stations of the cross for Williamship Chapel, Glos.
Having no training, I set up my business in 1986 and worked for many years alone, developing skills and knowledge as I went. I am lucky to still be in business 32 years on. Lucky too, to have had some significant associations with other artists, notably including the Welsh stained glass artist John Petts and Br Gilbert Taylor, the ‘stained glass’ monk of Prinknash Abbey and, latterly, the architect Craig Hamilton. Stained glass has provided me with a rewarding and interesting life. I have a small team of assistants and together we repair and conserve stained glass from churches nationwide and look after the glass at local cathedrals, including Hereford, Brecon and Llandaff. Our work is endorsed by the Institute of Conservation of which I am an accredited member. I continue to design and make new stained glass in the traditional manner of this ancient craft. Meeting the challenges of creating art for churches and historic buildings or repairing artworks spanning eight hundred years or so, is always a thrill and I feel privileged to do it.
St Mary’s Kington, Herefordshire. Baptism window.
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St Laurence Ludlow. Conserving 14th century roundels in the North Aisle.
Pluscarden Abbey, Moray. Details of North Quire window.
St Michael and All Angels, Moccas, Herefordshire. Conservation of 14th century stained glass.
Williamstrip Chapel, Gloucestershire. West window.
Dore Abbey. Detail of the Presbytery east window following the restoration of the 17th century stained glass.
St Peter and St Paul, Northleach, Gloucestershire. Detail of the conserved 15th century stained glass.
CHRIS FAIRWEATHER “ (2006 - 11) Photographer
The art department at Monmouth sparked my interest in photography shortly after I arrived in 2009. Supported by the department, I got my first job offer whilst sitting my A-level exams, starting at Thousand Word Media in the summer. There I continued my career progression, working for the local media and PR Clients in the South West. I moved to Leeds to work for Ross Parry Agency, which at the time was run and owned by Old Monmothian David Parry. I worked for the national and international media, covering breaking news and features across the North of England. My work at Ross Parry led to me being shortlisted for the UK Young Photographer of the Year, and I achieved 2nd place. In late 2013, I moved to Cardiff to take up my current position at Huw Evans Picture Agency, where I help run the business day to day whilst covering Sport, Editorial, PR and Advertising assignments across Wales and internationally, for clients which include Welsh Rugby Union, BBC and The Sunday Times. During the past few years I’ve particularly focused on commercial projects and covering Welsh international sport. Highlights include World Rugby Cup 2015, Euro 2016 and the Six Nations Championship. For the past three years I’ve been shortlisted for Wales News Photographer of the Year.
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Aaron Ramsey celebrates scoring for Wales against Russia in Toulouse, during Euro 2016
Wales’ Gareth Anscombe’s ‘disallowed’ try against Anthony Watson of England, 2018 Alun Wyn Jones shot for Ospreys Rugby
Kate Middleton during her first public appearance after announcing her pregnancy, 2013
Boy George, Steve Norman & Martin Kemp at the funeral of Steve Strange, Porthcawl, 2015
A boy dives through the mud during Leeds Festival, 2013
LAKOTA GUNTER “ (2007 - 14) Designer
I joined Monmouth School in 2007. It was here that I began to develop my love for creative subjects. While I enjoyed playing rugby, and academia certainly had its merits, I felt a real passion for art and drama. I was part of a creative family that brought me up on all forms of cinema and art, so I naturally felt an affinity for these areas as I progressed through the school. When I had completed my studies at Monmouth School I moved on to do a foundation course at University of the Arts, London at the University of Camberwell where I specialized in film and animation. My time in London was brilliant. With independence came a further exploration and development of my skills and work within a creative environment. I learnt how to animate and storyboard as well as how to structure my own independent films. When I had finished my course I moved to the University of Hertfordshire, where I focused my creative skills on practical special effects and model design. The course helped me develop my 2D designs into 3D realities. As part of my course we were encouraged to find work experience in industry. I have been lucky enough to work on numerous titles including Star Wars: The Force Awakens to, more recently, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs. Being able to work in industry was a truly enlightening experience and further drove my passion. Upon finishing my course I will move into the world of freelancing, continuing to work in model making and practical special effects, so that I can fund my own independent filmmaking.
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