Published to coincide with a major exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, London from October 25th 2013 - January 25th 2014, touring to The Beecroft Art Gallery, Westcliff-on-Sea, England and the British School at Rome. Alan Sorrell attended the Royal College of Art in the mid-1920s in a period that saw the emergence of Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious, John Piper, Henry Moore and Barnett Freedman. From 1928 to 1932 he was a student at The British School at Rome, Italy; from the 1930s Sorrell painted a large cycle of murals including his celebrated Working Boats from Around the British Coast for the Festival of Britain in 1951. As an airman during the Second World War, Sorrell produced a remarkable series of paintings characterized by a new perspective, broad horizons and tilted aerial views which were to become a hallmark of his post-war reconstruction drawings. He is perhaps best remembered for his archeological illustrations for magazines and books and his reconstruction drawings for the Ministry of Works (later English Heritage, UK). Alan Sorrell's vision was born out of the Romantic British tradition exemplified by Blake, Palmer and their 20th-century disciples. This book makes it possible at last to assess the full scope of Sorrell's work and the underlying poetic vision that runs through it. Comprising a series of essays the book sets out to chart Sorrell's life and achievements, as well as illustrating the range and diversity of his talents, most works having never previously been reproduced.
