Hugo Baruch was born into a family of Berlin theatre costumiers which may partly explain his dramatic personality, a penchant for self-reinvention and the theatricality of his self-taught art, which typically depicts bizarre, erotic or grotesque themes, ranging from boldly coloured paintings, to satirical works on paper, often made with ballpoint pen and reminiscent of Surrealism and automatic drawing. Jack Bilbo (as he preferred to be known) was variously a sailor, tramp, stage designer, reporter, author, self-taught artist, and gallery owner. Arrested for anti-fascist activities in 1933, he escaped to France, then Spain, arriving in England in 1936. Interned in Onchan camp on the Isle of Man, for six months, Bilbo became one of the camp impresarios, organising art exhibitions in his 'cabin' which were visited by 1500 internees, afterwards founding his progressive Modern Art Gallery (1941-48) in central London as a platform 'against Hitlerism' - a vital meeting place for refugee and interned artists, including Kurt Schwitters, Kokoschka and Samson Schames. Bilbo published an oversized volume of autobiography in 1948 (Jack Bilbo by Jack Bilbo) in which he recorded a detailed (but perhaps not wholly reliable) account of his arrest in 1940, his time in transit camps, his engagement with other interned artists, and his experiences as a pivotal figure within the cultural life of Onchan camp. Postwar, after a period in suburban Weybridge, following the closure of the gallery, he returned to Berlin, where he opened a bar.
Interned Artists: Ben Uri and the 80th Anniversary of Internment
Forthcoming exhibition
