Reginald Brill (1902-1974)
The Sun hat,
Signed,
Oil on board,
9 x 12 inches.
Exhibited: The Phoenix Gallery, Lavenham, Suffolk, 1975.
Provenance: Private Collection; bought from the above exhibition
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This wonderfully engaging portrait is a departure from Brill's usual subject of hulking workmen.
Reginald Brill was an artist in oil and watercolour and fine draughtsman of landscapes, figure studies and portraits. Born in London, Brill studied under Henry Tonks at the Slade School 1921-4 after a period at the St Martin's School of Art. Won the Prix de Rome for painting and was at the British School in Rome 1927-9. Worked in Cairo, 1930. Exhibited at the RA, Leicester Galleries and in East Anglia, where he lived, at Lavenham. Was principal of Kingston School of Art. Wrote Modern Painting and Art as a Career. Kingston Polytechnic, the Royal Borough and the Phoenix Gallery organised a retrospective in Kingston in 1985, with another at Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston University, 1999.
Examples of his work are held in the Tate, The Wellcome Collection and elsewhere and can be viewed at ArtUK.