Object Description
CHARLES MAHONEY
(1903-1968)
Self Portrait – A Study for Muses
Signed with initials l.l.
Pen and ink with sepia watercolour
Framed
27.5 by 18 cm., 10 ¾ by 7 in.
(frame size 46 by 35.5 cm., 18 by 14 in.)
The present work is a study for the right-hand section of The Muses. Mahoney first visited the subject of the seated artist in his The Pleasures of Life mural for Morley College in 1928-30. Sadly, the mural was destroyed by bombing in 1940. He returned to the theme in the 1950s for the proposed works for the rebuilding of Morley College, however, his ill health prevented the completion of the project. The present work dates to the 1950s.
Mahoney studied at the Royal College of Art form 1922-1926 where his fellow students included Edward Bawden and Barnett Freedman. He returned to the college to teach composition and murals, remaining there until 1953. Important mural commissions completed by Mahoney include those for Morley College, the Festival of Britain and Campion Hall, Oxford.