Jack Bilbo was born Hugo Cyril Kulp Baruch into a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany in 1907; he fled to England in 1936. Interned in Onchan camp (Isle of Man) he organised art exhibitions in his 'cabin', visited by 1500 internees, afterwards establishing the Modern Art Gallery in London as a platform ‘against Hitlerism’, which became a vital meeting place for émigré artists, including Kurt Schwitters and Josef Herman. Bilbo’s own self-taught art was influenced by Surrealism and often depicted bizarre, erotic or grotesque themes.
Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU: https://www.buru.org.uk/contributor/jack-bilbo
