Reginald Brill 1902-1974
Study for Men in the Trench
pen, ink and watercolour on paper
11¾ x 26 ins




Reginald Brill was an English social realist and narrative painter who has just begun to receive the recognition which was enjoyed in their lifetimes by his contemporaries, William Roberts and Stanley Spencer. His keenly observed images convey a strong sense of what life was like for the working man in England in the 1950s.

Brill was born in London in 1902, and he spent his early childhood there and in Yorkshire. He won a scholarship to the Slade, and later the Prix de Rome in Decorative Art. Following two years at The British School in Rome from 1927-9, Brill went to teach at Blackheath School of Art.

In 1934 at the age of thirty he became principal of the School of Art in Kingston-upon-Thames.

His major series of work, known as ‘ The Martyrdom of Man’, was carried on in parallel to his career as a teacher. These paintings reflect his care for fellow man and depict people at work, eg The Operation, The Jury, LInemen, Waiting Room and Rest, which recently sold at Sothebys and was specially restored for The Brill Retrospective. His smaller works also play with the theme of everyday events and communication amongst people, such as The Bull Ring and Market Place paintings.

Brill was a versatile artist who valued drawing as the solid base for his, and his students work. His name is associated particularly with human figure compositions, but he also worked on landscapes, portraits and details of plants, animals, interiors etc. He employed a variety of media, and his unusual hand painted and cut paper mosaics are beautifully designed and worked.

The intrinsic Englishness of his work, with its narrative theme and the emphasis on people in their environment, combined with his interest and concern in human behaviour results in a unique body of work, yet to be fully recognised.

Brill retired to Little Hall in Lavenham, East Anglia, a charitable hostel for art students, where he lived and acted as a warden until his death in 1974.