Sir Thomas Monnington

ARTIST

Monnington, Sir Thomas

1902 – 1976

Painter, especially of murals. Born in London, he studied at the Slade School in 1918-23 and was Rome Scholar in 1923-26. He married fellow Rome Scholar Winifred Knights in 1924. Among his public works are a decoration for St Stephen’s Hall, Westminster, 1928, and the new Council House in Bristol, 1956. Monnington taught drawing at the Royal Academy Schools, 1931-39, and in 1949 joined the staff of the Slade, whose strong linear tradition marked his own work. Monnington is represented in a number of public galleries, including the Tate, British Museum and Imperial War Museum. He was elected RA in 1938, became its President in 1966 and was knighted in 1967. There was a memorial exhibition at the RA in 1977. Another traveled from the British School at Rome to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter and the Fine Art Society in 1997. From the 1940s Monnington lived in Groombridge, Kent; the local landscape inspired much of his post-war work. Monnington was one of the outstanding draughtsmen of his generation. He had a considerable influence as a teacher (Euan Uglow was among his pupils), and was one of the most effective of the twentieth-century presidents of the RA, turning around the Academy’s ailing fortunes. Remarkably he was the first president of the Academy to produce abstract paintings and indeed made no distinction between abstract and figurative art: “Surely what matters is not whether a work is abstract or representative, but whether it has merit. If those who visit exhibitions would come without preconceptions, would apply to art the elementary standards they apply in other spheres, they might glimpse new horizons. They might ask themselves: is this work distinguished or is it commonplace? Fresh and original or uninspired, derivative and dull? Is it modest or pretentious?” (Interview in the Christian Science Monitor, 29.5.67).

Selected Literature: Judy Egerton, Sir Thomas Monnington, Royal Academy of Arts, 1977 Paul Liss, Sir Thomas Monnington, British School at Rome/Fine Art Society plc, 1997

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Sir Thomas Monnington

ARTIST

Monnington, Sir Thomas

1902 – 1976

Painter, especially of murals. Born in London, he studied at the Slade School in 1918-23 and was Rome Scholar in 1923-26. He married fellow Rome Scholar Winifred Knights in 1924. Among his public works are a decoration for St Stephen’s Hall, Westminster, 1928, and the new Council House in Bristol, 1956. Monnington taught drawing at the Royal Academy Schools, 1931-39, and in 1949 joined the staff of the Slade, whose strong linear tradition marked his own work. Monnington is represented in a number of public galleries, including the Tate, British Museum and Imperial War Museum. He was elected RA in 1938, became its President in 1966 and was knighted in 1967. There was a memorial exhibition at the RA in 1977. Another traveled from the British School at Rome to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter and the Fine Art Society in 1997. From the 1940s Monnington lived in Groombridge, Kent; the local landscape inspired much of his post-war work. Monnington was one of the outstanding draughtsmen of his generation. He had a considerable influence as a teacher (Euan Uglow was among his pupils), and was one of the most effective of the twentieth-century presidents of the RA, turning around the Academy’s ailing fortunes. Remarkably he was the first president of the Academy to produce abstract paintings and indeed made no distinction between abstract and figurative art: “Surely what matters is not whether a work is abstract or representative, but whether it has merit. If those who visit exhibitions would come without preconceptions, would apply to art the elementary standards they apply in other spheres, they might glimpse new horizons. They might ask themselves: is this work distinguished or is it commonplace? Fresh and original or uninspired, derivative and dull? Is it modest or pretentious?” (Interview in the Christian Science Monitor, 29.5.67).

Selected Literature: Judy Egerton, Sir Thomas Monnington, Royal Academy of Arts, 1977 Paul Liss, Sir Thomas Monnington, British School at Rome/Fine Art Society plc, 1997

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ARTWORK FOR SALE

Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Design for Students Union, University of London, circa 1969
£25,000
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Baptism, circa 1924
£1,675
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Design for the ceiling of the Mary Harris Memorial Chapel, (pale ground) University of Exeter, 1956
£9,500
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Nocera Umbra, 1925
£12,750
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study for Bristol Ceiling, circa 1952
£5,400

ARCHIVED WORKS

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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Design for Students Union, University of London, circa 1969
Private
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study of a laurel bush, 1919
Private
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Thomas Monnington – Portrait of Winifred Knights
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Winter
Private
Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study for Christ meeting the woman of Samaria at the well, for Kippen Kirk, circa 1930
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study for The Fifth Station, The Cross is laid upon Simon of Cyrene, circa 1960
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Suffolk Landscape, late 1930s
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study for Winter, circa 1922
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study for Allegory, c.1924
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Study for Allegory
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Cartoon for Winter, circa 1921
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
The Annunciation, circa 1924/5
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
Portrait of Winifred Knights, circa 1931
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Sir Thomas Monnington (1902 - 1976)
View from the ante-room window, Leyswood, circa 1948