There is an exhibition at Falmouth Art Gallery of a large collection of paintings that belonged to Mattei Radev, who was a leading framer from London. Details below are taken from the Falmouth Art Gallery website:
Mattei Radev (1927 - 2009) was a refugee who fled Bulgaria as a stowaway on a cargo ship in 1950. He became one of the leading London picture framers, mixing with artists, dealers and art critics.
In 1991, Radev was left a significant art collection by his friend Eardley Knollys, who had, in turn, inherited a large part of it from Eddie Sackville West, 5th Lord Sackville some years earlier.
The collection reflects each man's differing tastes: Knollys for French artists and Sackville-West for modern British pieces. Although Radev added works by Robert Medley, Duncan Grant and John Piper, his greatest gift was to keep the collection intact.
This exhibition brings together some of the finest artists of the 20th century including Georges Braque, Maurice Denis, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Ivon Hitchen, Jean Millet, Amedeo Modigliani, Ben Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson, Roderic O'Conor, Pablo Picasso, Lucien Pissaro, Graham Sutherland, Keith Vaughan and Alfred Wallis.
If you can't get to Falmouth to see this exhibition, the Radev Collection website is excellent and shows the paintings including frames! A great resource for 20th Century frames.
If you can't get to Falmouth to see this exhibition, the Radev Collection website is excellent and shows the paintings including frames! A great resource for 20th Century frames.
