Paintings, Prints & Drawings — 1944
Roof Garden from High Holborn
It is springtime in the city and tulips and daffodils can be seen flowering in window boxes in the foreground.
Kathleen Allen (1906-83) painted this view, looking west over rooftops from the northwest corner of Fetter Lane, from the window of her top flat at 30 Holborn. She moved to the flat in 1941 after her Fetter Lane studio was bombed during the Blitz, destroying all her early works. During the Second World War, Allen was seconded by the city to record war industries.
This is one of several pictures painted from Allen's roof garden in the Museum of London's collection. Her friend, Shelia Jackson, sketched the view seen from number 30 Holborn but looking in the opposite direction, towards Smithfield Market and St. Paul's.
As well as a painter, Allen was also a muralist, designer and teacher. Between 1946 and 1966 she taught at Goldsmiths College in south London. A small number of paintings and sketches by Allen are held by the Museum of London.
- Category:
- Paintings, Prints & Drawings
- Object ID:
- 84.142/1
- Object name:
- Roof Garden from High Holborn
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- Allen, Kathleen
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- 1944
- Material:
oil, canvas, wood
- Measurements/duration:
- H 252 mm, W 175 mm (unframed), H 350 mm, W 300 mm, D 35 mm (framed)
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
- Copyright holder:
digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.