The Arts Society Ashdown Forest. Boris Anrep and the National Gallerly Mosaics by Lois Oliver

Visitors to the National Gallery are often surprised to find at their feet mosaics featuring a host of famous characters, including Winston Churchill, Virginia Woolf, and Greta Garbo, even Lewis Carroll’s Alice and a Christmas pudding. This exuberant mosaic cycle was created by the Russian artist Boris Anrep between 1926 and 1952.
A larger than life character, Boris Anrep was an intimate of the Bloomsbury Group and a close friend of Augustus John and Anna Akhmatova. His exploits included deeds of derring-do in occupied France, competing in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon, and a colourful love life!
This is an account of an extraordinary man and his work, by the author of Boris Anrep: The National Gallery mosaics.
Lois Oliver studied English Literature at Cambridge and History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. She is Professor of Art at the University of Notre Dame in London, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Courtauld Institute. She is a regular lecturer for the Arts Society.
Lois has worked as a Curator at the V&A, the National Gallery, and the Royal Academy.
Her recent exhibitions include Jock McFayden: Tourist Without a Guidebook for the Royal Academy and Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism at Dulwich Picture Gallery.