A collection of “lost murals” which depict images from the former borough of St Pancras are going on sale at auction next week, reports Spitalfields Life.
The three oil paintings which measure nearly six foot by six foot are by artist Cecil Osborne (1909-1996) and show St Pancras & Kings Cross, Highgate & Hampstead, and Bloomsbury & Fitzrovia. They were painted between 1956 and 1964.
Osborne, who exhibited with the East London Group, created the triptych of panels as murals to decorate the small Assembly Room of St Pancras Town Hall, now Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road.
The paintings were later moved to the lending library on Brecknock Road, Kentish Town, then “disappeared” before reemerging at auction in Bayswater in the 1990s where they were bought by anthropologist Dr Kaori O’Connor.
“They were painted for a public space, intended to be seen by many people, so I would like them to find a new home where they can be widely appreciated as the remarkable artworks they are. I believe the past they depict can only enrich the present and future,” say O’Connor.
Auction: Modern & Contemporary British Art 24 September 2019. Lot 49: Cecil Osborne, British 1909-1996- St Pancras & Kings Cross; Camden, Highgate & Hampstead; and Bloomsbury & Fitzrovia, 1964; oil on canvas, three, each signed and dated, 162x172cm, 164x178cm and 166x176cm respectively.
Read more at Spitalfield Life. Cecil Osborne’s Murals For Sale.