It was MrB who introduced to the work of the East London Group, and like him I have become a fan of art that is considered to be some of the ‘most innovative and productive to have flourished in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century’.

They were a group of thirty-three artists based in London, and the original members were attendees at an art club at the Bow and Bromley Evening Institute in East London. Consequently many of the artists were working class men and women who lived and worked in East London, a few though were Slade School of Fine Art-trained, like the art club’s teacher John Cooper.

In the 20s and 30s the group attracted huge support and attention, however the group didn’t reform after World War Two and their work was almost forgotten. Fortunately however for us it wasn’t completely forgotten and the group’s realistic drawings and paintings of buildings, streets, and ways of life in east London is now an incredible legacy,