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Frank Hoar was a British artist, cartoonist and architect. He studied at Plymouth College, at Bartlett School of Architecture and the Slade School of Fine Art. He first came to public prominence when, at the age of 25, he won a competition to design the first terminal building at London's Gatwick Airport in the 1930s. His later architectural career focused increasingly on town planning in the post war years. An accomplished draughtsman, Hoar exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1950 and 1969, showing pen and wash drawings and watercolours of interiors. Under the pseudonym ‘Acanthus’, Hoar was also a prolific cartoonist. This view of the Robert Adam-designed neoclassical library or ‘Great Room’ at Kenwood shows the room as it appeared in 1956, with pink and golden colour scheme and the columnar screens painted in a deep purple red in imitation of porphyry.
As well as this watercolour of the Library, Hoar included a brief discussion of Kenwood in his 1963 book A Introduction to English Architecture, in which he describes the Library: ‘…with its curved and painted ceiling, is one of the finest rooms in England’. In the guise of ‘Acanthus’, Hoar also used the Library at Kenwood as the setting for a cartoon, published in 'Punch' magazine in January 1947.
Title
A View of the Library, Kenwood
Date
1956
Medium
watercolour on paper
Measurements
H 55 x W 67.5 cm (E)
Accession number
88430770
Acquisition method
purchased with support from the Friends of Kenwood, 2024
Work type
Watercolour
Signature/marks description
Frank Hoar 1956