Mateusz Grabowski was one of three children born to Wojciech and Marianna Grabowski in
Wizna near
Łomża in the
Podlasie Governorate,
Congress Poland. As a young man he was involved in the
Polish Scouting movement. He graduated as a
Master of Pharmacy at
Stefan Batory University in
Wilno. His first post was alongside his pharmacist uncle in
Piotrków Trybunalski. In 1930 he moved to
Warsaw where he married, had two sons and rose to the role of government inspector of pharmacies. With the probability of war increasing in the late 1930s he joined the army reserve and became a member of the Polish Army Medical Corps. He subsequently organised the pharmacy services of the army. During
World War II, he escaped from Poland and sought refuge first in
France and after its fall in 1940, in the
United Kingdom. His family were left behind in Warsaw where his older son, Wojciech,
ps "oko", participated in the
Warsaw Uprising. Although they survived the war, his wife died in the aftermath. Grabowski was able to bring out his two young sons to join him in
London. After the war in London he set up a small network of pharmacies in
Earl's Court and Chelsea and started one of the first mail order chemists in England. He specialised in sending pharmaceutical products to war-ravaged Poland. In 1959 he opened the Grabowski Gallery next to his chemist shop in
Sloane Avenue, Chelsea. The gallery specialised in promoting young and diaspora artists, among whom were
Pauline Boty,
David Hockney and
Bridget Riley. It was a non-commercial venture. Rather it was an expression of his passion for art. The gallery held its final show in 1975 before closing. Grabowski's younger son, Andrzej, an artist, predeceased him in 1969. His other son, Wojciech, also a pharmacist, took over the family business after Grabowski died in London in 1976. Grabowski was buried at
North Sheen Cemetery, London. Grabowski's granddaughter,
Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis, is married to the
Greek prime minister (since July 2019),
Kyriakos Mitsotakis. ==References ==