Auerbach’s debt to David Bomberg

David Bomberg's The Mud Bath, 1914. Photograph: Tate

I was delighted to read (Freud tax deal sends Auerbach’s works across UK, 3 March) that Frank Auerbach’s work is to be distributed to galleries throughout the UK. Your readers may not know that he was a pupil of David Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic, now London South Bank University. Bomberg was one of the finest 20th-century painters, but tragically neglected in his lifetime. The son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, he grew up in London’s East End. Auerbach once described him as “the most original, stubborn, radical intelligence that was to be found in art schools”. His painting showed daring, energy and great strength of form. He was exceptionally gifted intellectually and a visionary. Sadly his work is dispersed and hard to track down.
Veronica Edwards
Malvern, Worcestershire