Original artwork description:

As part of an exhibition coming up in October this year, entitled “ In the Footsteps of the East London Group “ I chose to paint the Guardian Angels Church in Mile End in response to the painting by Elwyn Hawthorn, the narrative in my painting comes from the East London Advertiser, Saturday 27th May 1939: LIMPING MAN CLUE. Four Years for Mile End Cigarette Theft, A hole big enough for a man to fit through was knocked in the basement wall of a Mile End shop. 280,000 cigarettes, valued at £6O7, were stolen. A horse and a loaded cart led by a man with a limp were seen from the rear of the shop.


I set out to make a painting about Mile End with the Church and the Yellow Bridge, at the same time I was researching the work of East London Group, and considering the experience of people living in East London in the 1930’s, I wanted to make a connection across the 90 years of time. I began looking at newspaper stories of East London in the 1930’s, looking for an eye catching story that could become a narrative for the paining. The story about the thief who stole cigarettes, was unusually visual, and it grabbed my imagination.




Limping Man Clue, oil on canvas 97 x 117 cm 2024.
I made several attempts to make this painting, including an oil painting made on location standing on the yellow bridge, in the end I based my composition on drawings made from street level and included the yellow bridge on both sides of of the painting. In the 1930’s and before The Guardian Angels church was significant in community life especially supporting a large community of Irish traders and workmen and their families, and there was and still is a primary school at the rear of the building.

Materials used:

oil paint

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