Portrait of Sir Hugh Casson PRA in the Library Print Room of the Royal Academy, May 1992

Leonard Rosoman RA (1913 - 2012)

RA Collection: Art

A watercolour portrait of Sir Hugh Casson PRA shown seated at a desk in the Royal Academy's Library Print Room. Along with the Library, this room was refurbished between 1985 and 1986 to the designs of H. T. (Jim) Cadbury-Brown RA.

The portrait was commissioned from Rosoman by the Royal Academy in 1991. The Council Minutes for 6th October 1992 record that this was because a "representation of each past President is held by the Academy, but its collection did not yet contain a portrait of Sir Hugh".

Leonard Rosoman RA was born in London in 1913 and studied at King Edward VII School of Art in Durham from 1930 to 1935, the Royal Academy Schools from 1935 to 1936, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 to 1937. He was appointed an Official War Artist to the Admiralty in 1943. After the war he taught at Camberwell School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art and was appointed lecturer at the Royal College of Art where he taught many young artists including David Hockney and Peter Blake. Rosoman was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1969 and is well known for his murals at the Royal Academy, Lambeth Palace and elsewhere. His work is represented in many collections including the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum, London where a retrospective of his work was held in 1989. Edinburgh College of Art made Rosoman an Honorary Fellow in 2005.

Sir Hugh Casson was born in 1910 and studied architecture at the universities of Cambridge and London. While he continued to practise as an architect throughout his life, Casson also took on numerous other high-profile projects including the Directorship of the Festival of Britain, receiving a knighthood for his achievements. He also designed theatre sets and set up the the school of Interior Design at the Royal College of Art as well as working as a writer and broadcaster. In 1976 Sir Hugh was elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts, a post he held for eight years.