London Landscape

This painting is set in Brixton immediately after the Second World War. The artist wrote that he 'was fascinated by the window full of bills on the derelict shop front - it seemed to be blooming like a flower in such a drab setting. I came back the following morning about 6.30am and using the roof of my car as an easel, I worked on it until the place became too busy and finished it some time later from memory, which was refreshed by a number of visits. My last visit was an anti-climax, all the bills were gone and had given place to the usual vulgarity of a chromium plated shop front.'

A barrel-organ is depicted on the pavement in the foreground, along with overcoat-clad pedestrians, a placard-holding protester and a pram-pushing mother. These details root the scene firmly in post-war London, with inhabitants struggling to revive their spirits amid shortages and poverty. James Fitton's painting also hints at change to come with the Labour election poster reminding us of the political and social aftermath of the war and the creation of the welfare state.