Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1923 Krakow

Died: 2016 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1939

Other name/s: Leon Julius Pauker

Biography

Artist Leon Vilaincour (né Leon Juliusz Pauker) was born in Krakow, Poland, in 1923 to Zygmunt Pauker, a former Austro-Hungarian officer, and Gustawa (née Löffelholz), a dressmaker. He grew up in Krakow alongside his family’s dressmaking business and frequently travelled to Paris, gaining early exposure to French culture. Though assimilated into Polish society, his family was of Jewish origin, and his world changed with the rise of Nazi Germany. Sent to England for safety, he made a final visit to Poland in 1939, just before the German invasion. Most of his family perished in the Holocaust, except for his mother and one surviving aunt, who later settled in Paris. In England, Vilaincour attended an émigré school in Hove before studying at London's Central School of Art and Crafts, which relocated to Northampton during the Second World War. His studies were interrupted, as he joined the British army, changing his surname to Vilaincour. Postwar, he studied further then taught at the Central School, before Harold Williamson, Principal of Chelsea School of Art, whom he had met in Northampton, offered him a teaching position at Chelsea in 1950, beginning his nearly 40-year tenure. He built strong connections with colleagues and students, including Prunella Clough, Patrick Caulfield, and Norman Blamey. Although he became a British citizen in 1947, he remained deeply connected to his Polish and French heritage. In 1948, he married New Zealand-born painter and woodcarver, Roberta Cameron Smith.

Vilaincour began with figurative and landscape paintings in the late 1940s, influenced by the Barbizon School. His early works included commissioned portraits and self-portraits, still lifes, and scenes of Dammarie-lès-Lys, near Fontainebleau, where his family spent summers. During the 1950s, he experimented with powdered metals to create textured compositions. Though often mistaken for abstract art, he explained they reflected spiritual and elemental concepts. His innovative style gained recognition, leading to a solo show in 1964 at the New Art Centre, London, attended by Henry Moore and supported by John Rothenstein, then director of the Tate. Two of the exhibits were purchased by the Arts Council, including The Chalice, which was displayed in the Purcell Room (South Bank Centre) for many years. During the late 1960s, Vilaincour underwent a major artistic shift, focussing on French history, particularly the Napoleonic era. He described this transformation, ‘like a slow change of ground under my feet’. Initially, his paintings retained their abstract elements, but over time, military figures, regimental flags, and cavalry became more prominent. By the 1970s, historical themes dominated, but his compositions remained unconventional. He layered different periods and themes, creating complex visual collages. From the mid-1970s he began to use painted pearl screens, which added a jewel-like texture to his work, exemplified by his diptych, A Life (1984–85, Tate Collection). Throughout the 1980s, his palette brightened, and his work became more theatrical, often incorporating figures from early 20th-century French culture. In Obsèques Nationales (1988), for example, he merged personal history with French cinema, depicting actors such as Jean Gabin and Louis Jouvet. He gained further recognition through exhibitions at major London galleries. Critics described his work as deeply engaged with European history, intertwining military symbolism, historical figures, and abstract compositions.

In later years, Vilaincour explored displacement, history, and memory through large thematic series. Ship of Fools (2007–11), inspired by the medieval allegory and Katherine Anne Porter’s 1962 novel, depicted a fantastical ship resembling a merry-go-round, caught between celebration and catastrophe, while Stultifera Navis – Ship of Fools No. 2 (Ben Uri Collection) featured a carousel-like vessel adrift, with vast shadowy fish lurking below. The contrast between revelry and unease reflects Vilaincour’s lifelong engagement with themes of exile and impermanence. He described himself as an ‘inland person’, uneasy with the sea, which he saw as both alluring and menacing. Through this series, he transformed his personal experience of displacement into a universal meditation on human folly and history’s cyclical nature. Other later series explored cultural nostalgia and historical memory: Real Coffee (2003–10) depicted Viennese café culture, evolving from lively, bustling interiors to more ghostly and distant recollections; Seven Horseshoes, inspired by a 20th-century Polish poem, wove together evocative imagery of history and folklore, while Autumn, Winter, and Northern Rites (1999-2001) and later, Carnivals and Winter Rites (2011-13) reflected an interest in rural traditions and folk festivals, drawing inspiration from memories and old photographs. Vibrant yet melancholy, these works reflected Vilaincour’s sense of exile and cultural displacement.

Vilaincour exhibited five times at the Royal Academy and held solo exhibitions at the Knoedler Gallery, London (1982), Serpentine Gallery (1983), and Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex (1992). Leon Vilaincour died in London, England on 8 February 2016. In the UK public domain his work is represented in the Tate and Arts Council collections. In 2024 he was the subject of a paper on émigré art teachers under Ben Uri's auspices at the Association of Art History annual conference.

Related books

Linda Sandino, ‘Identity, Voice and Translation in the Life and Work of Leon Vilaincour’, in Maria Teresa Costa and Hans Christian Hönes eds., Migrating Histories of Art (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019), pp. 165- 177
‘Leon Vilaincour, Artist – Obituary’, Daily Telegraph, 30 April 2016
Paul Moorhouse, ‘Leon Vilaincour Talking to Paul Moorhouse’, 12 November 1998, Tate Catalogue file, pp.1–43
Martha Kapos, Leon Vilaincour (Rye: Rye Art Gallery, 1992)
Leon VIlaincour (London: Serpentine Gallery, 1983)
John Mc Ewen, ‘Glimpses’, The Spectator, 21 May 1983, p. 31
John Russell Taylor, ‘Galleries. Violent Images in the Cause of Peace’, The Times, 10 May 1983, p. 8
‘Awards by Arts Council’, Halifax Evening Courier, 23 December 1965, p. 6
‘Mr. Leon Vilaincour’, The Times, 4 March 1964, p. 8 Leon VIlaincour (London: New Art Centre, 1964)

Public collections

University of the Arts London

Related organisations

Central School of Arts and Crafts (teacher)
Chelsea School of Art (teacher)
Royal Academy of Arts (exhibitor)

Selected exhibitions

Leon Vilaincour, Rye Art Gallery, East Sussex (1992)
Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, London (1987)
Leon Vilaincour: Paintings 1968–83, Serpentine Gallery, London (1983)
Knoedler Kasmin Gallery, London (1982)
Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, London (1981, 1980, 1979, 1978)
New Art Centre, London (1964)
Berkeley Galleries, London (1955)
Serpentine Gallery, London (1983)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Leon Vilaincour]