This year is the 80th anniversary of Thomas Hennell’s election to the NEAC. In tribute to him, the author of the first major reappraisal of his life and work in over 30 years – Jessica Kilburn – will give an illustrated talk, describing who Hennell was and the remarkable breadth and quality of his achievements.
Thomas Hennell died at the age of only 42, while serving as an official war artist in the Far East at the end of the Second World War. But, as his close friend Edward Bawden observed, he had already reached 'first rank among English watercolour draughtsmen’ by this time.
The contemporary resonances in Hennell’s work are multiple: his deep love and concern for the countryside, its ancient crafts and threatened rural practices, and the greater understanding of mental illness which is still needed. In times of war and uncertainty, Hennell found that ‘there is more stuff in our best efforts’.
His exposure to the destruction of war reinforced his appreciation for ‘the unfailing beauty in nature and all things’, and he recognised – as we do with increasing urgency today – that, 'by being interested in the natural, wholesome, unspectacular things of nature you can help them to return.
Join us on Tuesday 27 June from 6pm to learn more about Thomas Hennell, whom Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious regarded as ‘a man of genius’.
The event is free with gallery admission, which is £5 payable on the door, but you need to reserve your space here.
Photo of Thomas Hennell in Navy uniform, courtesy of Bethlem Museum of the Mind