• Continue along Claremont Square before turning  right into Cruikshank Street where Bevin Court lies on your right at the end of the road…   ///wisdom.kinks.sound

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Cyril Mann lived here in this modern block of flats and is remembered with an Islington green plaque. An infant prodigy, he entered the Nottingham School of Art at the age of 12. When he was 16 he moved to Canada to become a missionary. He soon met an influential Canadian art company, the Group of Seven and became convinced to take up art.

Returning to England he entered the Royal Academy in 1935, completing his course, even though he found the atmosphere inhibiting. After service in the army, Mann found teaching work. Although an excellent educator his relationships with art dealers were difficult possibly leading to his work being exhibited less often.

Bevin Court became his home in 1955. The building allowed good natural light which he savoured as his thematic style often incorporated light and shadow and many of his paintings showed a preoccupation with the sun.

In 1965 he wrote that “few great artists were truly fashionable during their lifetime.” But today Mann is most remembered for his paintings of bomb-sites and post Blitz-scarred London.

Today there is a growing interest in Mann’s paintings, with many of his works held in major national institutions including the British Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

Do pause to admire Bevin Court as a striking example of modern architecture. Built on the site of the bomb-destroyed Holford Square, Berthold Lubetkin, the architect, showed  an unusual respect for the pre-existing urban environment, unlike many modernist architects of his generation.