Agathe Sorel (b. 1935) was a painter, printmaker and sculptor whose practice was marked by experimentation across materials and techniques. Born in Budapest into a culturally engaged Jewish family, she survived the Second World War with the aid of Raoul Wallenberg. She trained at the Academy of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, studying stage design, murals, fresco and mosaic, before relocating to London in 1956 following the Hungarian Uprising.

In London, Sorel briefly studied at Camberwell College of Arts, where she became part of a dynamic artistic milieu that included R. B. Kitaj and Julian Trevelyan. Encouraged by her peers, she moved to Paris to work under Stanley William Hayter at the influential Atelier 17, where she encountered abstraction and experimental printmaking processes that would shape her practice.

Returning to London in 1960, Sorel established a studio in Fulham with her husband, artist and textile designer Gabor Sitkey, while teaching at Camberwell, Goldsmiths and other institutions. A founding member, and later Chair, of the Printmakers’ Council, she played a key role in establishing printmaking as a distinct discipline within British art education.

Sorel’s work evolved from traditional print techniques into innovative explorations with Perspex and plastics, leading to her “Space Engravings”, constructed, engraved forms that blur the boundaries between print and sculpture. Supported by Gulbenkian and Churchill Fellowships, she travelled widely, working in Europe, the United States and Mexico. Her works are held in major international collections, including the British Museum, Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum. The artist passed away in 2020.