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Obituary: John Wheeler-melech ( Bogdan Melech)
1924-2011
a very happy childhood where his pass times were fishing, riding and from an
early age, sketching and painting. The utopia of childhood was brutally
crushed by the German occupation
of
advance on the other. Then still a teenager, he was traumatised by
witnessing the genocide of people fleeing from Stalin's regime. He became
caught up in the outbreak of war. As a soldier, his knowledge of three
languages made him useful as an interpreter on the front lines. For many
years, he mourned the men he had been compelled to shoot from his trench.
At capitulation, he came to
Club in Knightsbridge he began to learn English and enjoyed doing the shopping at
Harrods. When the White Eagle club was destroyed by fire, he found life very
difficult while still learning English and being a "displaced "person.
The Weston family of
St Martin's
sessions at The Polish YMCA. He met his wife in 1963. The following years
were characterised by exhibitions. He won prizes from the Royal Society of
Artists. He refused to submit to commercial imperative and was, in every
sense, the archetypal romantic artist in a garret wholely devoted to art.
The trauma of the war years left its mark in fears of persecution
by the Bolsheviks whom he thought were pursuing him because he was
determined to uphold art and culture. The paranoia afflicted him from time
to time until in later middle age, with support and love from his
family, his fears faded away. In 1989, historical events also helped him
when the eastern European states became democratic.
He wrote a book about the use of colour in art and used to say
enigmatically, "about art, you can't say too much. " He was very happy
and content in his later years loving to listen to the great composers, and often
as he painted. These years were marked by just one disaster when some of his
major works of art were carried away from his art studio in a fire and owing
to a faulty alarm. He and his wife survived owing to the kindness of a
passing stranger, who stopped by on his motorbike to raise the alarm. Many
works of art remained, however, and some of these can be viewed on the web
site www.sympo.co.uk.
Bohdan's friends will remember him for his inimitable charm and
spontaneous kindness. When he saw a man without an overcoat, in winter, he
took a coat from the peg and went out to give it to him.
He leaves a widow Louisa Ann, a daughter Yvette Louise and
grandchildren, Edward, Richard, Veronica, George and Adrian. 1st January
2011. He was 86.
From mrs D. Klee December 2012
Dear Mrs Melech
Thank you so much for your Christmas card with the beautiful painting by Bohdan Melech. It is a wonderful way to remember him and I will treasure it. I intend to take the card to the next meeting of the Westminster Safeguarding Adults Board so that they can remember John as a great artist and not a patient. It is a reminder to us all that we know very little of the people that we care for and that we must have respect for each person in our care. We have all learnt a lot from you, thank you.........