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Sir Thomas Monnington:
Design for the First Students Union Mural, c. 1964
Framed (ref: 232)

Gouache over pencil,
33 x 51 cm. (13 x 20 1/16 in.)

Tags: Sir Thomas Monnington gouache pencil design murals

Design for the University of London Students’ Union Mural, circa 1964 

Exhibited: Sir Thomas Monnington, Royal Academy, 1977, (54) Thomas Monnington, Fine Art Society, 1997,  no 137.
Literature: Judy Egerton, Sir Thomas Monnington, Royal
Academy, 1977, p.13; Paul Liss, Thomas Monnington, Fine
Art Society, 1997, pp.54-55. Sansom & Co;
British Murals and Decorative Painting 1920-1960,
Sansom & Co, 2013, p.320

In a stepped gesso reverse section Gluck style frame

In 1964 The Edwin Austin Abbey Trust for Mural Painting in Great Britain commissioned two works from Monnington for the University of London Students’ Union. The first of the two designs was executed in situ, in polyvinyl acetate on a panel 8 x 20 ft. (see photograph), following the compostion and colouring of this study.  
The resultant geometric design is very different from the rather florid Scholar Gypsy painted by Gilbert Spencer R.A in 1957, also commission by the Abbey Trust, on the floor below. The Gilbert Spencer mural has remained in situ, but been painted over.  The Monnington mural has suffered a worse fate:it was  removed sometime in the mid 1990's and is assumed to have been destroyed.