An art collector, who kept his Hockneys under the bed when he ran out of space, is commemorated in a prize on what would have been his 100th birthday.
Wilfred Cass fled Nazi Germany as a child and went on to become chairman of Moss Bros and paint manufacturer Reeves.
In later life he founded The Cass Sculpture Foundation - selling his personal collection of Henry Moores and Elizabeth Frinks to fund a Sussex sculpture park - and commissioning the first three sculptures on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth.
He died aged 97, in 2022, but son, Mark, who founded the Cass Art shops, established the £10,000 prize from his estate to mark the centenary of his birth.
He said: "My father wanted to live to 100 which is why I am doing this.
"Looking at his legacy we wanted an open art prize and thought this would be a nice opportunity to spotlight and reward the massive array of artistic talent out there.
"It's bit of a personal mission, the Cass family has supported artists for 100 years. I am not an artist but I must have some pigment in my blood."
Wilfred was born in 1924 into the Jewish Cassirer family. His uncle Paul ran Berlin's influential Die Berliner Kunstsalon, which introduced French impressionism to northern Europe.
As well as dealing in work by Degas, Monet and Cezanne, Paul hosted a Van Gogh show in 1905 that inspired a boom in the artist's work, and bought nine artworks including ‘Sunflowers’ for the sum of £110.
But with the rise of Nazism, Wilfred, brother Eric and their parents moved to London in 1936.
When Eric joined the British army in 1939, he shortened his name to Cass.
"They were lucky, most of that side of the family left in the early stages prompted by the Nazis, but my grandfather always thought they would go back," says Mark.
Wilfred served in the RAF before training in communications technology then "saving" the world's oldest paint manufacturer in 1970.
"My father was a serial entrepreneur. He was once told that a patent he invented would not be used, and he gave up on working for others because he never wanted anyone to say no to him again."
One of the first phone calls Wilfred got after buying Reeves was from Henry Moore asking about a paint that he wanted made.
"From that meeting, my father fell in love with sculpture and modern art and he and Henry Moore became friends."
They were living in Southwood Lane, which overflowed with Wilfred's growing art collection - leading him to buy the house next door.
"I moved to Highgate when I was one, and moved away in my early 20s but it's always been very much part of my life," says Mark.
"Southwood Lane was a very special community. It was a small house and my father was collecting paintings by people like Hockney - who was avant-garde at the time - and keeping them under the bed. I remember we were never allowed to go under the bed!"
Mark recalls that when Wilfred bought a Henry Moore he asked him to send the cheque.
"He sent me back a really nice letter thanking me - I was 12 years old."
Through Mark's own passion for photography, he and Wilfred set up photo library The Image Bank, which they later sold to Getty.
"I ran some of his businesses and we had lots of fun and good times together.
"My father was bullied from the age of six to nine by the Nazis and didn't go to school, then came to England, didn't speak English and was bullied again.
"He had a stunted emotional growth - he realised he had come from a family that had everything and lost everything - his parents were so in love with each other they were not really there for their boys. But he was never sentimental about being a survivor."
Mark was MD of crafts retailer Craftsmith before buying the lease to 13 Charing Cross Road which for 100 years was an art shop frequented by the likes of Claude Monet and Winston Churchill.
From that sprang Cass Art which now has five London shops and eight more around the UK.
With the mission statement 'Let's Fill This Town With Artists' the stores host art exhibitions, support schools, sponsor art prizes, and are mostly staffed by knowledgeable young artists.
When he move to Belsize Square in the early noughties, Mark opened the Hampstead store to have a site close to his young family. Today it backs many art projects, including the annual Hampstead Summer Festival art show and the Women In Art Prize.
"Our mission hasn't changed we are based around artists and committed to remaining on the High Street. What gives me the courage is our belief in art for all, that creative pleasures, making a mark are important for everyone. Like book shops, people want that analogue world of art materials. Our USP is the look and feel of the shops and our staff art students sharing their knowledge.
"Amazon may be convenient but not cheaper. If they want to buy materials from Amazon, people like ourselves will not exist in 10 years time."
Winners of the Cass Art prize get £10,000, and a stand at Saatchi Art’s The Other Art Fair. There's an additional £5,000 prize and a Student Award, and Art Educators Award.
The shortlisted drawings, paintings and sculpture are on display from November 8-16th at Copeland Gallery, Peckham with winners announced on November 14th.
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