Exterior panel
Stefan Knapp (1921 - 1996)
Category
Architecture / Exteriors
Date
1960 - 1969
Materials
Enamelled steel panels backed with asbestos
Order this imageCollection
The Homewood, Surrey
NT 864283
Caption
Sitting incongruously among the mock Tudor buildings of suburban Surrey, The Homewood is a stark, white ‘floating box’ on pillars, made of concrete and glass. Patrick Gwynne was a budding young architect when he designed this house for his parents in the 1930s and he spent the rest of his life living there, perfecting his architectural masterpiece. Traveling across Europe between the wars, Gwynne absorbed the emerging International style of modern architecture in Germany and France, particularly Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye outside Paris. These large, enamel panels, attached to the house as exterior decoration, are designed with abstract shapes of blue, green and mauve which mirror the palette of the garden and the sky, also reflected in the glass windows. They were made by the Polish born artist Stefan Knapp, who led an eventful life before settling in London. After the Russian invasion during World War Two, his father was killed and he was sent to a Siberian gulag. Following his release in 1942, he joined the Polish Armed Forces before serving as a Spitfire pilot in the RAF. After the war, he studied at the Royal Academy and in the 1950s developed and patented a technique for fusing enamel paint onto steel. This enabled him to produce murals on an enormous scale, well suited to decorating public buildings. Among his commissions were works for Heathrow airport and the Warsaw metro. Gwynne’s interest in modern art and design continued all his life and he commissioned these panels in the 1960s. They were a particularly striking and bold addition to the house and one of several pieces he owned by Knapp.
Summary
A set of enamelled steel panels, attached to the house as exterior decoration, made by the artist Stefan Knapp in the 1960s. 12 panels, in blues, greens and red.
Makers and roles
Stefan Knapp (1921 - 1996), artist