Brian Thomas (1912–1989) was a British artist best known for his decorative work in church buildings, particularly murals and stained glass.
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Biography
Brian Thomas was born in Barnstaple, Devon, on 19 September 1912 to Frank and Margaret (née Lauder). He was educated at Bradfield College and awarded a science scholarship to study at Oxford University. He chose instead to attend the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. There he won a scholarship to the British School at Rome to study mural painting and travelled widely in Italy and Spain. During the war, he worked in the camouflage section of Home Security. From 1946 to 1954, he was principal of the Byam Shaw School of Art. He was a Master of the Art Workers Guild (1957) and a Master of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass. In 1961 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He died on 13 December 1989, and a memorial service was held at St Giles in the Fields in London.
A ‘Brian Thomas Memorial Prize’ (worth £2000 in 2018) is awarded by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass as part of its annual Stevens Competition for Architectural Glass.
Iconography
A photograph of Thomas at work in his studio in St John's Wood, London, taken about 1955 by Chris Ware (Keystone Features) can be found in the Getty Images online database. It shows him painting glass panels for newly commissioned altar rails at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The chapel's altar-rails project is described, with images of the panels themselves, in the December 1956 Report of the Society of the Friends of St George's and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter
List of works
All Hallows by the Tower, London. Murai: The Last Supper.
All Saints, Compton, Hampshire. Stained glass: Madonna and Child and Deposition.
Bangor Cathedral, Wales. Murals:'The Risen Christ and Two Disciples Reach Emmaus on Easter Evening', with two others at the west end.(1934).
Brown's Cake Shop, Banbury, Oxfordshire. Mural depicting the history of Banbury. (1947); subsequently displayed in Banbury's Castle Quay Shopping Centre.
43 Cloth Fair, London. Mural 'The Sailor's Home Coming'.
Fulham Palace, London. Murals: in the Chapel (1953).
Innholders Hall, London. Stained glass: The Three Masters Window, a collaborative work designed and made by 3 past masters of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass, specifically: Brian Thomas, Michael Farrar-Bell and Lawrence Lee.
St Andrew, Holborn, London. Mural and stained glass, each depicting doves.
St Andrew and St George, Stevenage. Stained glass: The Christian Year.
St Edward, New Addington, London. Stained glass: St. Edward and Symbols of Kingship, incorporating images of Melchizedek, Hezekiah, David and Solomon.
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Six stained glass panels in the altar rails, 1955.
A collaboration with architects Seely & Paget.
St John the Baptist Church, Peterborough. Stained glass (1968) depicting notable people connected to Peterborough: Symon Gunton, vicar of the parish during the plague, between 1665 and 1667 (d.1676), Nurse Edith Cavell (d. 1915), Captain Thomas Mellows (d. 1944, fighting in the French Resistance), and William Law (d. 1761).