Arts: From the Archives: The Birth of the Euston Road Group
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The artist Victor Pasmore (right) recalls William Coldstream painting the first Euston Road picture
BILL [COLDSTREAM] really did have a revolt against the whole modern movement ... He used to come up to me and say, "I'm fed up with this film business". "Well," I said. "Why don't you start painting again?" ... The problem was, where to start? I said, "You can't go back to that pure brushstroke." You can't go back to that ... So I said, "Let's paint each other's portraits".
We tossed up who would start. Bill won the toss, so he started. After about 20 minutes, we got a bit tired and decided to have a ... look at what he was doing. He produced a dreadful sort of third-rate Sargent. We both agreed there was no future in that!
So we agreed to try again next weekend. Bill turned up with a ruler and plumbline. Instead of starting as one usually does - do the outline of the head and shove in the eyes and mouth - he started with the eye and measured the distance between that and the next eye and down the nose, and marked all this. A completely photographic, objective way of doing it. We agreed it was a bit grim. But ... at least there was something concrete here. That was the first Euston Road picture. Recording: Mel Gooding, chair of `Artists' Lives' advisory committee
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments