ALAN THORNHILL (1921-2020)
Sir Gordon Russell CBE
patinated terracotta
34 x 29 cm (13 1/4 x 11 1/2 in)

The bronze cast is in the collection of the Gordon Russell Design Museum in Broadway, Worcestershire.

After distinguished service in the First Word War for which he was awarded the Military Cross, Gordon Russell trained as a furniture maker and designer, winning a gold medal at the Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris in 1925. A leading voice in the design of practical furniture, in the Second World War he served on the government's Utility Furniture Design Panel, becoming its chairman in 1943. After the War he became director of the Council of Industrial Design - renamed the Design Council - and subsequently was appointed chairman of the Crafts Council. Knighted for services to design in 1955, he wrote widely on the subject. Among his more notable commissions are the chairs he designed for the re-built Coventry cathdral.

For further details on the artist, please check: https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/news-item/open-studio-of-alan-thornhill/?pc=6

PROVENANCE:
Artist's estate