Early Life, Family and Training

Born Salomea Lena Goldmann in 1884, Lena Pillico grew up in a Jewish family in Łódź, within the Congress Kingdom of Poland of the Russian Empire. Her early years were shaped by this environment before she moved toward a life of formal study and marriage. In 1904, she married the painter Leopold Pilichowski. Shortly after their marriage, the couple left Poland to settle in Paris.

Her training took place at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, where she developed the technical foundations that would support her later work in both painting and textile design. The family eventually moved to England in 1914, making London their permanent home. Lena Pillico and Leopold raised four children: two daughters, Maja Gainsborough and Thea Doniach, and two sons, Vivien Pilley and Teddie Pilley.

Artistic Activity in London

After moving to England in 1914 with her husband, Lena Pillico became an active presence in the London art scene. She spent much of the following decade exhibiting with the Women's International Art Club, showing work there between 1915 and 1917, and again from 1919 to 1925. Her involvement with the club went beyond exhibitions; by 1923, she was serving on its executive committee.

Her work appeared in the Whitechapel Art Gallery’s survey exhibitions of Jewish Art in 1923 and 1927. During this period, she also found a place among the progressive circles of the Seven and Five Society, exhibiting with them between 1923 and 1927. She was one of the first women to be included in their exhibitions. In 1927, she became the first woman artist to exhibit with Ben Uri, and that same year, she organized an exhibition for the Jewish Art & Literary Society Ben Uri held in her own St John’s Wood studio.

Her output during these years included a variety of subjects and materials. In 1928, she was among a group of artists exhibiting at the Brooklyn Museum, where she showed 29 works, including several designs. Her studio at 7 Hill Road in St John's Wood remained a constant part of her life in London, even after her husband's death in 1934.

Technique and Style

Lena Pillico moved between the worlds of painting and textile design, often working with materials that required a delicate touch. She experimented with a wide range of surfaces, including canvas, silk, velvet, paper, cotton, georgette, chiffon, and wood. Her hands were as comfortable with a brush as they were with the technical demands of fabric production. She was a pioneer in using silk screen fabric printing, a method she used to create decorative silk squares. These works often carried a modern spirit, characterized by a decorative quality that felt contemporary to her era.

Her practice involved a variety of textures and methods. She produced paintings on silk and velvet, and her textile work included various designs and wall hangings. In 1928, her output was substantial enough to include twenty-nine paintings and five designs for an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Whether working on a small piece of georgette or a larger canvas, her focus remained on the interplay of color and material. Her ability to adapt her vision to different mediums allowed her to explore both the academic traditions of painting and the more modern, decorative possibilities of textile art.

Later Years and Death

Following the death of her husband in 1934, Lena Pillico continued her life in London. She kept her studio at 7 Hill Road in St John's Wood, a space that would later be used by her son, the architect Amnon Vivien Pilley. In 1936, she held a solo exhibition at Lucy Wertheim's London Gallery, where she presented 57 recent paintings focused on Spain and Morocco.

The years following the Second World War brought a change in her surroundings. She moved to Oxford, where she remained until her death in 1947.

Where to See the Works Today

Pieces of her output remain in several collections, held within the Ben Uri Collection and the Salford Museum and Art Gallery. These holdings offer a way to encounter the textures and colors she favored in her paintings and textile designs. Her presence in these archives keeps her specific approach to material and form accessible to those studying the history of Jewish art and modern design.

Her work has also traveled through various locations in posthumous touring exhibitions. These shows have brought her paintings to the Atkinson Art Galleries in Southport, the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, and the Newlyn Orion Gallery in Penzance. Seeing her work in these settings allows for a view of how her art moved through different regional spaces after her death.