Marian Kratochwil View of Dalkeith from the North Dated 1945 © Joyce Jeal

Biography

Born 1906
Died 1997
Nationalities Polish
British

Marian Kratochwil was a Polish painter and writer, who spent most of his life in Britain. Born in Kosow, Poland, he trained with Stanislaw Batowski before studying philosophy and history at the University of Lwow. After serving with the Polish army in Scotland during the Second World War, Kratochwil remained in Britain. He painted landscapes in Scotland and Spain, and scenes of city life in London. In 1951 he inherited the estate of his patron, the artist Dame Ethel Walker, who had made him her beneficiary without telling him. In 1961 Kratochwil married the artist Kathleen Browne and later in life published an insightful monograph on her work. In 1994 he held a retrospective exhibition with his wife at the Polish Cultural Institute, showing drawings of life in pre-war Poland.