The origins of creation and the experience of war (1945–the early 1950s)
Stefan Knapp's life was inseparably related to art, so it is not possible to present the artist's biogram without – at least – memories of his creative activity. So this chapter will be a telegraphic abbreviation of his artistic path.
In the summer of 1945, Stefan Knapp returned to Britain and settled in London. He realized his greatest dream of school years and, as the first aviation soldier, passed the entrance exam and began his studies at the Central School of Art and Design. He also studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. He resigned from the first college after two years of study, the second graduated in 1950.
In order to be able to attend classes, he was forced to apply for free leave from aviation. In order to pay for his studies, he undertook various kinds of additional orders: he created commercial drawings, press illustrations, took up spelling, painted military portraits, their wives and families on order. In his second year of study, he managed to obtain a government scholarship for former military, which greatly improved his modest budget.
As it was written earlier, the war was over. However, her memory continued to torment the former prisoner of the camp, soldier and pilot. He was tormented by memories of traumatic events and nightmares from which he woke up at night screaming. He was tormented by visions composed of scenes remembered from prisons, transports, camp, wanderings. He felt guilty about those who failed to survive the war. While still serving at RAF Knapp, he acknowledged: "At this stage, neither one of us was so convinced that he had the right to live—life was rather a kind of almsgiving to be received humbly and with gratitude."
Over the years, he has created a series of images reflecting the experiences of both himself and millions of others who have shared a similar fate. The first of these were created just after the war, even in 1945. In the Square Sun, he mentioned them: "I began painting images of horror. I've painted a lot of them: the emaciated faces of the hungry, the child scuffing the dead. I did not want to paint these scenes, and even less consciously I sought to get rid of the past. Something got inside me and made me paint like this. [...] They were very bad paintings."
In these expressive presentations the most important role was the line and intense color as leading means of expression. Paintings are about separation, searching for a mother and child, hunger, desperation, despair, madness and dehumanity. One of the works – "Fooder" – was presented in December 1945 during the exhibition of the group The Hampstead Artists Council at Studio House in London.
All works from the so-called "Syberic Nightmare" or "Syberic City" were exhibited during one exhibition – Stefan Knapp's first solo exhibition in London, at the Jabe Gallery in 1947. On the cover of the brochure was one of the paintings – depicting two shrouded figures – Zaduma. Below was the title of the exhibition: "Oils and Drawings (Siberia) by F/L Stefan Knapp". Inside are the titles arranged according to the execution technique. Along the right edges of the pages nineteen times the word "Siberia" was repeated. It's scary, but Stefan Knapp really didn't know where he was imprisoned for the rest of his life. Although, in fact, it did not affect the effects of the works.
The exhibition presented nearly 40 works. These were drawings about the titles: "Earth to Earth", "Reviving Flames", "Nudes", "Mercy Plea", "Mistaken", "Black Despair", "Vale of Tears", "Child", "Green", "Profits", "Spiral of Misery", "Quadruped", "Escapist", and oil paintings: "The Moles", "Young Cannibal", "Water – Water", "Ravenous", "Stub", "The Wheelbarrow", "Repletion", "Garbage", "Wind of Circumstance", "Samaritan", "Residue", "Hope Minus", "Why?", "Last Crumb", "Shadows on the Snow", "Brooding", "My Bedfellows", "Barbed Wire", "Warmth", "Profile", "Extremity", "S.K.Porti"
The gallery owner gave Knapp the exhibition space for the whole month for free. Stanisław Kushelewski, author of the "Artists tell the truth" column, said that now, thanks to this, Stefan Knapp will return to the light.
Not everyone was that understanding. The UK was known, but Russian crimes against those who were oppressed during the war were silent. The top priority was to maintain a fragile postwar order. Such a position of the authorities partly translated into public opinion and resulted in such press references as this one: "In the small London Jabe gallery there is an exhibition of images of a young Polish airman. His works make strong accusations: Russians were to treat Poles deported to work in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the war. The author of the paintings is Stefan Knapp, who himself was one of the deportees. After his release, he became a fighter pilot and was later awarded the highest Polish award for bravery in the battles in the Middle East and Italy. The accusations, very serious, are expressed in the images themselves, depicting life in a labor camp in Russia. Whether they are real or not – it is hard to decide. However, the exhibition has one goal: that the world may know about them and be able to face them."
Stefan also recalled in the Square sun: "We continued to swam zigzag for a few weeks until on a foggy rainy day we arrived in Glasgow [...] Even the BBC are here. But the whole party was suspicious. First of all, we were forbidden to mention the USSR. We weren't supposed to talk about our experiences there at all, either good or bad. The order was clear."
Meanwhile, Stefan was increasingly devoted to creative work, constantly trying new methods. The end of the 1940s his incredibly creative mind almost completely occupied the search and look for known shapes in the branches and roots of trees. He traveled London, its parks and gardens, and looked for unusual naturally formed forms. He called them "probables", and the most interesting of them he took to his studio in Chiswick, where, after removing the bark, he polished and secured the wood surface, making as little interference as possible in the natural structure of the object. He didn't call them sculptures. They were a wonderful training of imagination for him, and to a similar "activity" he wanted to get the viewer looking at the "proven". A dead object by interpretation of the artist gained life as a self-born work of art, was interpreted again. Organic forms from that time resonate in subsequent years in his sculptural realizations.
In 1948, The London Gallery LTD. presented an exhibition of these tracks titled Selection of Trees. Natural objects interpreted by Stefan Knapp. Inside the brochure was a text by Victor Musgrave, London's leading marcher of the 1950s, later founder of the Outsider Art Archive. Musgrave wrote of Knapp: "Over the course of art, the human mind has constantly fascinated the mysterious kinship of trees, mountains, rivers, and clouds with its own struggle for self - control. In Stefan Knapp's work, the universality of nature manifests itself with a clairvoyant insight that would not surprise either Bracelly, Bosch or Arcimbold."
Stefan placed a handwritten dedication on one of the brochures: "My beloved Matula, her son Stefan. 26.4.1948 – and sent her to Biłgoraj."
Art breakthrough and international success (1953–60)
The search for your own path continued. In the early 1950s, Stefan Knapp isolated himself for over a year in his new studio in Chelsea to work on his art to find a direction and clarify his work. Even then, he had several sold inventions in his possession, which secured him financially. He collected supplies, did not actually leave the studio, did not shave, and lived for 18 months mostly canned beans and work. He created hundreds of descriptive drawings and sketches of images, trying to get to the bottom of the topic. He painted and destroyed dozens of paintings.
His goal was to isolate the idea from the object he wanted to present. He tried to extract the very essence of the object and recreate it in a plastic form. Knapp argued that everything that lives can be brought to two basic elements: a spine with a peak and a base, which is of character and movement, and a tissue placed on that spine, forming a form. But he did not mean an experiment with a form designed to synthesize it, but to reach the most basic meaning of this form and learn to properly place it in space.
According to Knapp, it was precisely the context and proper relationship between objects, but also between objects and their recipients, that everything depended. As an example, the artist gave a case of trees that can be ornamented and shaded or destroyed in a fire that gives warmth. He also set an example of a dog who was a friend during peacetime and was a source of food for him during the war.
In the Square Sun, he wrote: "In every area I know more about the general than about the specifics; more about the common qualities than about the differences. I know more about the tree than about the Russian spruce or the Italian pine. [...] Man, Tree and River is abstract. These symbols [...]."
One such symbol in Stefan Knapp's work became a hybrid "homo-piscus" – a combination of man and fish, as the artist understood, the ultimate symbol of life.
The breakthrough occurred in 1953. Stefan Knapp felt that he had created something that belonged exclusively to him, and that he had become an active participant in the creation of the surrounding world. In this sense, he "returned" to life – or rather started again. Everything that had happened before was the result of the actions of forces independent of him and the people he himself was dependent on. Now he felt that the future was entirely in his hands.
After a period of isolation, trials and mistakes, Stefan discovered his way of artistic expression. Finding the inner meanings of objects derived from nature has become a basic starting point for art. The works created at that time seem to represent a world not reconstructed but reconstructed by the artist on the basis of his internal "manifest".
Selected works from this period were presented at Stefan Knapp's solo exhibition at the London Hanover Gallery, from March 9 to April 9, 1954. The exhibition proved to be a great success – not only were the works sold, but contracts for subsequent exhibitions, including the Tooth Gallery in London and Knapp's first exhibition in the United States, at Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.
The paintings exhibited at Hanover Gallery attracted interest from Gerald Chalmers Bentall, owner of the private commercial network Bentalls operating in the UK. He commissioned Stefan to create a painting that was to become a decoration of the hall of a trading house in Kingston, London.
Knapp made an oil painting over 12 meters high on a canvas titled "Image of Kingston". He worked on it for a month, 16 hours a day, using a tennis court borrowed from the Bentalls.
The facilities presented at Hanover Gallery also attracted the attention of architect Denis Lasdun, responsible for the Hallfield Primary School project in Paddington. The school was built in 1953–1955 as part of the Hallfield Estate and Stefan Knapp was asked to decorate the hall. An extremely colorful painting was created on canvas with dimensions (approximately) 4.5 × 2.5 m, depicting human figures in the company of creatures resembling dogs, carrying a huge fish.
Bearing in mind that he is creating a work to be seen by children, Knapp decided to suspend work as low as possible, almost at ground level, so that small audiences would treat it as an element of their surroundings. Unfortunately, children's hands touching canvas caused unintended damage and damage to image. A method should have been found to keep the work as long as possible in the best condition, regardless of the manner and location of the exposure.
Sometimes chance can decide the whole future. There are three versions of the event that would lead Stefan Knapp to begin experiments with enamel, a medium in which he created his most famous works.
The first says that one day around the mid-1950s. Stefan was supposed to go on a date with a girl who was carrying a enameled, historic brooch from Limoges. Knapp was supposed to unbutton the brooch to get a better look at it, but dropped the baby to the ground, and the enamel adorning it crashed. The panicked decided to cover the cost of repairs, but none of the local jewelers took the job. The artist therefore asked to use the studio and oven at the Royal College of Art and began experiments on samples of enamel. Within two days he managed to fix the brooch so that there was no sign of damage left on its surface. The ornament was later allegedly sold by the girl's family for £28,000 and no one ever found out that it had ever been destroyed.
The second version talks about lending an image decorated with enamel by his daughter from one of London's collectors in the early 1950s. Stefan was supposed to accidentally damage it. However, this version can be excluded immediately – Stefan Knapp's eldest daughter was born in 1952. A few-year-old girls don't rent works from walkers.
The third story is most likely – in 1955 Stefan damaged the enamel with Limoges belonging to his friend. He fixed it in a furnace located in the studio of one of London's art colleges.
Emalia fascinated Stefan Knapp. It gave the possibility to maintain living colors, was durable and resistant to atmospheric conditions. Thus began a new stage of his work.
Shortly after these events, Stefan Knapp recorded on tape his war story, which was published in 1956 by the Museum Press in London in the form of a book titled "The Square Sun". The same year, his large exhibition took place at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City during which he presented the first enamelled paintings and bronze sculptures. This exhibition opened the way for him to succeed further.
Stefan remained in contact with Pierre, son of Henri Matisse, after the exhibition ended. It was in his letter of April 11, 1958 when he returned from Mexico that he wrote: "I left for London directly as a result of a cable from my mother from Poland, who is visiting me for the first time since 1939."
Let's get back to the enamel.
Stefan Knapp originally worked with a copper enamel, using the Cloisonné technique, or cell enamel – one of the oldest known methods. It consisted of creating a drawing using thin plates attached to the metal surface and then filling them with a jewelry enamel. In this way abstract, intensely colored reliefs were created, in which still present was its characteristic, symbolic language of forms. In parallel, the artist sought a way to combine painting, sculpture and enamel to give his work a uniform character. He was fascinated by the creation of organic forms, inspired by roots, branches or growths of trees – motifs he had previously used in artistic work.
Knapp was increasingly aiming for a monumental scale. He wanted the art to go beyond the gallery space and become part of the surrounding architecture. He felt that works of art should not perform political or social functions, but be an element of everyday life – accessible to all. He dreamed of his works decorating buildings, providing a background for the lives of ordinary people. However, it soon turned out that the copper with which he had worked so far is too soft: under the weight of enamel large plates bent and lost stability. The solution was the use of steel.
The process of creating an enamelled element was complex. Steel panels were cleaned, digested in acids and bathed in nickel solution and then covered with a layer of porcelain soil. Knapp applied further layers of enamel to such a prepared surface, each of which was fired separately at approximately 800-850°C in a huge oven designed by Stefan.
At the end of the 1950s, Knapp's method of working with color and stain changed. Instead of precisely filling the fields, he began pouring the enamel directly on the ground, allowing the colours to spill freely and contrast. The stains thus formed dynamic abstract compositions in which shapes resembling maps or landscapes emerged from the apparent chaos. It is easy to see the echoes of landscapes seen from high when flying during service at the RAF – images that remained in his memory forever. The theme of the view from the plane deck as echoed back in his work in the form of synthetic forms and abstract stains in which you could recognize cities, villages, fields, forests and lakes seen from above. The experience of war had a profound effect on the artist, and in a way it marked the beginning of his artistic path: "The flying taught me one more thing. Borders are fiction. At 40,000 feet, the world is one whole. [...] How foolish and petty to try to break the crumb of granite, draw a line on a fast stream, capture one ray of sun and cry out – it's mine!"
In 1958, Stefan Knapp received one of the first great orders for enamelled murals – he was supposed to perform 17 panels, each with a surface of 10 square meters, designed to decorate the main entrance of the new terminal No. 3 of London's Heathrow Airport. The artist intended to show in them the movement of matter – both cosmic and man-made matter. During the opening, he emphasized that when he looks up to the sky, he sees more in him than just a space filled with clouds or night darkness brightened with stars. His imagination created a vision of colorful shapes that would bring him spiritual fulfillment. This vision Knapp wanted to share with thousands of passengers who were crossing Heathrow's threshold for years to come.
The artist's reputation grew rapidly and with it the number of prestigious orders. In 1959, Knapp created an enameled composition for Seagram, designed for a newly built skyscraper designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Initially, the work was shown at the U.S. embassy in London and then placed in the lobby of a New York office building alongside the works of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró.
New creative directions and return to Poland (60.–70.)
The most spectacular venture of Knapp, however, remained a monumental mural made in 1960 to order George Farkas, president of Alexander’s Corporation. On the wall of the Alexander’s department store in Paramus (New Jersey), the artist placed an abstract composition measuring about 60 metres long and 15 metres high. 280 steel panels of a total weight of 250 tonnes were used for implementation. Work on the work required special conditions – Stefan was given permission to use the hangar in Drayton, where he spread further mural fragments on the goats, and progress was observed climbing the girders of the construction.
Despite the apparent chaos, monumental composition was created according to a precise design. Knapp applied further layers of colour, pouring enamel with a spoon, and in order to be able to move on the surface of the work, he constructed special, secured skis. This unusual way of working has sparked great media interest and become an international sensation.
Happy with the effect George Farkas placed another order with Knapp – this time on relief. However, he did not know that his son had entrusted a similar commission to Salvador Dalí. The Spanish artist, realizing that he could not prepare a work resistant to external exposure, proposed that the project be carried out by Knapp. But he refused. As a result, Farkas compensated Dalí for the loss of the order, and Knapp completed a relief in 1967 consisting of square panels decorated with cylindrical half-spheres – a work that became an announcement of a new direction in his play.
At the request of the Farkas family, the artist created four more monumental panneaus – in New Jersey, Manhattan, White Plains and Valley Stream. The last of the implementation consisted of as many as 450 panels, and its full scale could only be looked at from the helicopter deck as it lay spread over Surrey meadows.
In 1962, Stefan Knapp first came to Poland after the war to present his art at the exhibition organized at the Warsaw Art Gallery of the Association of Polish Artists. Fifteen of his enamels and five oil paintings were shown at the exhibition running from 19 November to 1 December 1962. He had already had a significant achievements in the form of seventeen individual exhibitions in the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, Germany and Argentina. His works were included in collections of nine well-known museums: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Suomen cansallismuseo in Helsinki, Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, Dallas Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The artist's biography in a brochure printed for his first exhibition in his homeland in the 1960s is extremely laconic: "A RAF pilot was born in Poland in 1921 from 1942–45. Studies: Slade University – London". As if nothing had happened.
The same year Knapp purchased an apartment in Le Lavandou on the Lazury Coast. Shortly thereafter, his "season studio" was also established in nearby La Mole, where the artist experimented with acrylic painting. The dry Mediterranean climate favoured this medium much more than the humid air of England, resulting in a whole series of images maintained in the new stylistics.
Shortly after, Knapp decided to take another shift – he bought two small cottages in Sandhills and left London's studio at 4 Kings House on Kings Road. It is worth mentioning that in 1965 Stefan temporarily shared this space with another Polish artist – Wojciech Fangor, who worked as a painting teacher at the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham. A few days a week Fangor painted in the London Stefan studio. The paintings from this period meant "E" (England), and several of them gave Knapp a gift.
Stefan Knapp moved to Sandhills, Surrey where he bought the 19th estate belonging from 1888 to 1948 to Victorian artist Walford Graham Robertson, and formerly associated with watercolorist Helen Allingham (1848–1926). Escape from loud London brought him more peace and space to creative work. It was there that he began searching for a new form of expression, moving gradually away from violent contrasting compositions for the sake of calmer works, even the oneric ones. In his paintings appeared forms suspended in space, gently penetrating colours, and the whole became contemplative. Work technology has also changed. Experiments with plastic became an inspiration, which – subjected to hot air – allowed to create fancy, organic shapes. The artist started calling them "organic sculptures". In contrast to earlier "excellents" derived from nature, the shape and meaning of the creation depended entirely on it. These space-like fauna and flora forms were cast in 1966 aluminum. Eleven such works were presented in 1968 at the Munich Günter Franke Gallery, which opened another chapter in Knapp's artistic road.
Stefan Knapp has been striving for increasing discipline in art since the late 1960s – both in painting and in sculpture. After stages of exploration and violent expression, he felt the need to organize forms. It was reflected in monumental realizations for the new hall of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and in the project for the Atrium of Olsztyn Planetarium, today the headquarters of BWA Olsztyn.
In 1971, the artist took part in the Copernicus Symposium in Olsztyn, organized on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the astronomer's birthday, and proposed the creation of a panneau in both cities. The effects of these works, completed in 1972 and 1974 respectively, focused on space motifs. The Toruń implementation also included the image of Mikołaj Copernicus, inscribed in the clock shield. Similar performances appeared in the foyer of the college hall, as well as in Biłgoraj, where they went to the local museum and then in 1979 to the UN High School.
Between 30 October and 17 November 1974, Stefan Knapp's second and last exhibition in Poland was held. The exhibition in Warsaw's Zachęta was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Art with the financial support of the British Council and the artist himself. As many as 73 works were brought from the studio in Sandhills – acrylic paintings, enamels on steel and sculptures. In addition, wool tapisers were presented, whose weaving Stefan ordered in Poland. The poster of the exhibition was designed by Zenon Januszewski.
Stefan Knapp repeatedly attempted to transfer his art to Polish soil and to appear in Polish artistic environment. Apart from the already mentioned exhibitions and realizations for Toruń and Olsztyn Knapp designed, implemented and delivered three emalaies to the Warsaw Metro. Decorative records for Wilanowska Knapp station were delivered in 1987. These are two rectangular emalies in the spirit of geometric abstraction, placed opposite each other above the elevators, between the tracks and stairs leading to the station.
On the same year, Stefan Knapp tried to get interested in enamel technology by the authorities of the University of AGH. He wanted to lead to cooperation of the artistic environment with the Academy, which would result in the creation of enameled architectural decorations in Poland. On June 12, 1987, the AGH Department of Material Engineering and Ceramics, representing the university in a conversation with the artist, was appointed. Professor Leszek Stoch – Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Andrzej Kielce – Head of the General Ceramics Department, Dr. Marian Kordek – Head of the Noble Ceramics Department and Dr. Władysław Bugajski – Head of the Emalia Department. However, the talks did not bring the desired result by Stefan.
The second of the works on the Warsaw subway is the composition of the Battle of England, completed by the artist shortly before his death in 1996. It was installed at the station entrance only in 1998.
Artistic maturity, memory and public projects (80.–90.)
The 1980s was in Stefan Knapp's work a time of onerical compositions combining geometric acts with mood landscapes, later referred to by his wife Cathy as "symbolic". These paintings were created in stages – Knapp put on the canvas further, almost transparent layers of paint, building bright backgrounds with softly penetrating colours. The color remained the central means of expression for him, but gained a new discipline – a subordinate design of the work and without randomness.
In this spirit, the Vatican Cross was created, commissioned in 1983 by The Woodard Corporation as a gift to John Paul II. Stefan Knapp gave the work himself, and the painting was included in the Pope's private collection. The motif of the cross, in addition to the spherical forms, repeated many times in his work – in later years he created similar realizations, among others, for the Catholic University of Lublin and for the parish of St George in Biłgoraj.
In August 1939, Biłgoraj had about 8270 inhabitants, of which 5010 were Jews. Stefan grew up with Jewish peers. His mother was friends with the father of future Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, who, like them, came from Biłgoraj. Knappa has been fascinated by local cemetery and symbols placed on matzeves since childhood. The news about the destruction of the cemetery by the Nazis and the use of gravestones to pave the courtyards, including Kościuszko Street, shocked him. Julia Knapp repeatedly complained to her son that "the matzeves burn her feet." She lived with guilt for years because she trodden gravestones every day.
In 1987, Stefan Knapp met Frank Dobia, a Jew from Golubia-Dobrzynia, who survived the Holocaust and was liberated from Buchenwald camp. After the war, Dobia moved to Australia and focused on gathering and translating materials documenting the history of the Holocaust. Knapp told him the story of the Biligorian cemetery, and Dobia became involved in helping with a partial restoration of the cemetery. Thanks to efforts by Stefan Knapp, Frank Dobia and Abram Scher, the tombstones returned to their place in 1989.
A year later Knapp designed a monument to the victims of the Holocaust, set on the Hrubieszów cemetery. The monument was funded by Abram Scher.
Scher and Knapp met in Munich in 1967, already as mature men. The memories of the war experiences that they had made an extremely strong friendship born between them. Scher was born in Hrubieszów, so also in the east of the country, and grew up in similar realities as Stefan. After the war, he left for Munich, where he founded a company in the textile industry. His son recalled: "My father and Stefan, when they met, spoke Polish, which was frustrating for the rest of the company, but they enjoyed it. Or they just kept quiet looking into the fire." Knapp and Scher remained in close contact until Stefan's death.
Events related to the restoration of the Biligor's cemetery and the construction of the monument in Hrubieszów inspired Knapp to create a series of ten paintings depicting matzeves decorated with various symbols characteristic of Jewish Sepulcral Art. The artist has long prepared for this work. Among the memorabilia preserved in the family archive are pages from prayer books, a prayer book for Rosh Hashanah published in 1943 in New York City, and tables with the Hebrew alphabet from The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia – all covered with notes and markings made by Stefan.
In the late 1990s, Frank Dobia donated the Macewa series to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.
In 1986, Stefan Knapp performed an enamelled panneau that decorated the front of the London Grabowski Gallery. His 114-panel composition, inspired by the world of wine and the process of vinification, perfectly corresponded to the character of the gallery, which, apart from artistic events, ran an exclusive restaurant. The passion for good wine accompanied Knapp also privately. He organized exhibitions of his art in wine cellars in the south of France, including in Vignelaure and Château La Jaubertie, and his paintings hit bottle labels.
This was not the only way to commercialize Stefan Knapp's works. His paintings also appeared on album covers: "Experimentals with Ice" from 1981 (the drummer was his son Robin), "The Best of Alan Parsons Project" from 1987, and Tony Banks "Seven – a suite for orchestra" from 2004, "SIX Pieces for Orchestra" from 2012 and "Five" from 2018.
In the 1990s, Stefan Knapp in his art sought to find a way to combine painting, enamel and sculpture into one coherent whole. The result of these experiments were monumental obelisks and pyramids from enamelled discs. Knapp's last outdoor exhibition was held in 1994 in Méru, France and was a summary of his recent artistic search years.
Why was he making such a play? His son, Robin Knapp, says: "Stepan used to say, "If I could explain my paintings in words, I wouldn’t have to paint." And that best reflects his approach to art. Creation was an inner necessity for him, an instinct – he was driven by passion for new ideas, techniques and experiments. His works are hard to find because he has always looked further." (original: What Stefan liked to say was "If I could exploit my pictures with words, I wouldn't have to paint" And I am included to agree. For him it was a visceral need to create, to explore and to experience. One of his driving forces was his enthusiasm for new ideas, new techniques. It's a tri and category his work would be difficult.)
Completion
Stefan Knapp lived a life as if intended for several people. Biłgoraj boy, Lviv student, prisoner of the camp, soldier of the formation of the Polish Army, fighter pilot in RAF structures, target of fire and death perpetrator, art student, war-marked artist, traumatized man, and finally liberating from it, desiring to bring color and art to the world.
Stefan has been involved in several relationships over the years. With his first partner, he had a daughter, Stephanie, who was born in the early 1950s. Another child's mother was a New Zealand art student, employed as an assistant artist in his studio. The fruit of a short-lived affair was Stephanie's daughter, born in the mid-1950s, whom her mother took from London to New Zealand. Around the same time Knapp became involved with Yvonne Robinson, who worked at Hanover Gallery, where he exhibited his works. Their short - term relationship resulted in Robin’s son. Stefan's last wife was Cathy Evans Knapp, with whom he associated in the 1970s. It runs the Mid Wales Arts Centre gallery in Wales, gathering the largest collection of his works, which is at the same time the largest archive of memorabilia by the artist. Cathy and Stefan had two sons – Rory Knapp and Ivan Knapp, born in the late 1980s.
Stefan Knapp received the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari War Order (No. 11476), was twice awarded the Battle Cross, twice the Air Medal and the Pilot's Field Mark (No. 1798). In 1970, he was honored as a member of Churchill Fellowship.
He emphasized his Polishness. Despite many years spent in the UK, he retained his Polish accent for the rest of his life. The son Robin recalls that in his father there was always Polish independence and pride.
Stefan Knapp died unexpectedly as a result of an extensive heart attack he suffered in his studio in Sandhills on October 12, 1996. He was 75 years old and sketchbooks full of future projects.
author: Maja T. Wal
The article is a modified form of biographical text by the author, who first appeared in the catalogue of the exhibition "Stefan Knapp. Alechemist and visionary" presented at the Center for Contemporary Art "Marks of Time" in Toruń (February-May 2026).
Sources of quotes: Knapp Stefan, "Quarter Sun", Biłgoraj Regional Society, Biłgoraj 2017; Knapp, Stefan. Letter to Pierre Matisse. April 11, 1958. The Morgan Library & Museum. MA 5020, Box 13, Folder 40.; Stefan Knapp. Exhibition catalog. ZPAP Gallery, Warsaw, November 19 – December 1, 1962. Family Archives.; Musgrave Victor. National Portrait Gallery. Accessed 3 September 2025. https://www.npm.org.uk/collections/search/person mp18609/victor-musgrave; Conversations of the author with the son of Abram Scher and with Robin Knapp.