OD11 digital HR - Flipbook - Page 58
LEFT Paul at home with wife
Jenny, who is an actress, writer
and design director. Paul and
his art advisory McCabe Fine Art
have been profiled in a number
of publications in recent years.
This photograph was originally
used in Svenska Dagbladet, an
influential Swedish newspaper.
THE DANOWSKI
FACTOR
They met up again decades later
on the side of the Piley Rees. Paul
Frank was back in town for his
30th reunion when he ran into his
classmate Steve Ciolli (1993W) at
the Bish-Bosh derby. With him was
ODA Paul. Reintroductions were
made, reminiscing was had, and
a beautiful friendship was begun
again. They arranged to meet later
that year – in Milan, where ODA
Paul is an annual visitor.
That December, it was only
natural that their first stop should
be Marchesi, the legendary pastry
shop and café that’s been serving
Milan’s art dealers, designers and
fashion elite since 1824. Located in
the heart of the Quadrilatero della
56 | THE OLD DIOCESAN
Moda, the city’s most prestigious
shopping area, it is discreet and,
of course, superbly stylish. For
Paul Frank, Marchesi is somewhat
of an 11am ritual, a quiet moment
in an otherwise busy schedule – a
coffee and a pastry, and he’s good
to go till lunchtime.
But the meeting of Paul and
Paul was not to be a lone midmorning break. Over a series of
espressos and long lunches, Paul
Frank guided ODA Paul through
the art galleries of Milan, stopping
at Fondazione Prada, Pinacoteca di
Brera and – fittingly – the Museo
Diocesano, where seven centuries
of Italian art are displayed in
magnificent tranquillity.
would have been aware
of the enormous influx
of books into the Molteno
Library courtesy of a certain
Mr Danowski. The father
of former Pre-Prep boys,
Raymond Danowski gifted
thousands of books to the
school – an extraordinary
legacy that led to the opening
of the double-storey Danowski
Wing of the library in 1992.
Danowski’s love for literature
culminated in what is believed
to be the largest private library
of 20th-century poetry in
English. The Manhattan
native donated the collection
to Emory University in Atlanta
in 2004. During his time in
Cape Town, he enriched
the Molteno Library with
thousands of beautifully
illustrated art and poetry
books, inspiring the likes of
Paul McCabe, who credits the
book collection as a formative
influence in his life.
Danowski’s life combined
literature and art, a passion
deepened by his marriage –
one of four – to Mary Moore,
daughter of British sculptor
Henry Moore. He died in
Stellenbosch in 2018.
PHOTOGRAPH ALESSANDRA IANNIELLO
Many boys at Bishops in
the 1980s and early ’90s
