Monika Kinley
Monika Kinley
Early life and education
She was born Monika Wolf in Berlin into an Austrian Jewish family, the daughter of August Wolf, a journalist and his wife Paula Wolf. In 1932, they moved to Vienna, but left in 1938 on the very day that German troops entered the city. They stayed in Prague until 1939, where her parents had to queue around the clock for two days to get the necessary stamps in their passports, arriving in Britain on 2 April 1939.[1][3]
Paula Wolf was already ill and died soon after their arrival. August Wolf was interned in an enemy aliens' camp, and Monika found herself, at the beginning of the World War II, on a train to Whitby, where she stayed at a boarding school run by Anglican nuns.[1]
After studying Fine Art at the University of Hull,[4] she eventually arrived in London. She met and fell in love with a Polish RAF pilot, and had a child, Peter, but the airman was killed in action. She then worked for the potter Dame Lucie Rie, who was also a refugee from Vienna.[3] After the war, she met and married painter Peter Kinley, who was her second cousin.[1]
Career
Kinley was introduced to the London art scene by working on the bookstall at the
In 1977, Kinley met Victor Musgrave, the poet, art dealer and curator who claimed to be the first London art dealer not to wear a tie,[2] and was to become her life partner. They did not marry, her marriage to Peter Kinley did not end until 1980.[2] Victor had been married to the portrait photographer Ida Kar until her death in 1974 and had already been dealing in outsider art for a decade by the time he met Monika. Victor and Monika continued to promote Kar's work, despite the separation.[2] After meeting Victor, outsider art became the principal focus of Monika's dealing, curating and collecting. Together they put on exhibitions, raised funding and started their own collection.[1]
When Musgrave died in 1984, Kinley continued their work in creating an Outsider Art collection and archive. She made a number of journeys across the world searching for untrained and unknown people making paintings, sculpture and other objects. The
In 2011, Kinley curated A Life in Art for the Plymouth Arts Centre. Her last exhibition was Artists Make Faces at
In the
Legacy
The Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection of about 800 works was given by the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Trust to the
Publications
- Monika's Story – A personal history of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Collection. Musgrave Kinley Outsider Trust, 2005. ISBN 0954993306
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Dempsey, Andrew (6 April 2014). "Monika Kinley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Monika Kinley; Collector and curator whose championing of 'outsider art' took her around the world in search of unusual pieces" in The Times, 29 April 2014. Nexis online edition. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
- ^ a b "Passion for art took Monika from postcards to paintings". West Briton. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Death of Monika Kinley, advocate of Outsider Art". AMA. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ a b "A Life in Art: Monika Kinley". Plymouth Arts Centre. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Outsider Art: Exhibition guide: Journeys". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- Plymouth Herald, 27 September 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
- ^ a b "Monika Kinley, 1925–2014. Collector, curator, dealer, and champion of outsider artists dies". ArtReview. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection". Contemporary Art Society. Retrieved 5 May 2014.