Francis Newton Souza

Acquired in London, circa 1960s 

Insurance valuation by Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd. Gallery, London, 13 June 1969 

Peter (1922 - 2002) and Lilly Glucksmann were both children when they were forced to flee Hitler's Germany. Peter emigrated to London in 1938, together with his family, while Lilly arrived alone at Liverpool Street station on one of the very last Kinder Transports in August 1939. The two met at a school for German Jewish refugees in Haslemere, Surrey, married in their early twenties, and began collecting art in the late 1950s.  As a young couple building new lives and raising a family, they spent whatever they could spare on buying art. Profoundly affected by the loss of their homes, language, and culture, they believed that a house full of paintings, sculpture, and music would gift their two young daughters something that could never be taken away from them: an appreciation of the arts.

Peter was involved in fabric design and the clothing trade, befriending fashion designers such as Mary Quant in the 60s, traveling all over the world in search of textiles, and starting to buy paintings from Parisian artists who relied on fabric designs to earn money. Lilly was a teacher who ran a school for children in hospital. Throughout their lives, Peter and Lilly visited galleries in London and abroad, made many friends in the art world, and accumulated an eclectic collection of works by artists such as Marc Chagall, Armand Guillaumin, Moïse Kisling, Auguste Rodin and Souza. An active supporter of emerging talent for decades, Peter later became a trustee of the Camden Art Centre.