Confronting the real thing

The Polish born artist Felix Topolski (1907-1989) had a passion for confronting the real thing. His mania for drawing from life resulted in thousands of sketches that collectively resulted in a remarkable record of life as it was lived in the mid 20th century. But by their shear numbers, his drawings were denied a proper stage. In his own words:

...books and exhibitions were too precious and selective for their numerosity-impact; the contemporary periodicals jealous of their spaces. Hence the natural conclusion: a paper/broadsheet of my own...I meant it to propose itself over the heads of tastefulness and in the manner of old broadsheets...

From initially selling copies at street corners - a sales technique from which hurried commuters turned away in embarrassment - he retreated to the stolidity of subscribers' support. His prolific Chronicles appeared fortnightly from 1953 to 1979. They were self published, without advertisements or subsidies.

Perhaps the prolific internet and blogs such as my own, have taken over where Felix Topolski left off. The essence of which is confronting the real thing.

Nigeria's Leaders from Topolski's Chronicle