London, The Sammy Ofer Centre, London Business School, Metropolis, 23 July 2018 – 23 April 2019;
Hull, Ferens Art Gallery, Reflection: British Art in an Age of Change, 17 August 2019 – 5 January 2020
In 1936 Uhlman arrived in London from Germany, speaking no English and having no prospects beyond his engagement to a daughter of the wealthy Lord Croft, who was far from pleased at the prospect. Uhlman recalled his early days in Paris in his diaries, The Making of an Englishman (Victor Gollancz, London, 1960): ‘Perhaps if I had gone to art school and learned the ABC of art the way would have been easier. But I felt that I was too old to start with boys of sixteen. Every year counted; I had no time to walk – I had to run.’ From the start in Paris his pictures had a directness and a virility that was recognised and applauded: ‘I had no misgivings. Painting seemed to me to be as easy and natural as breathing.’
