Walter Thomas Monnington

Sir Walter Thomas Monnington PRA (2 October 1902 – 7 January 1976) was an English painter, notable for several large murals, his work as a war artist and for his presidency of the Royal Academy.

Early life and education

Fighter Affiliation Halifax and Hurricane aircraft co-operating in action (Art. IWM ART LD 3769)

Monnington was the son of a barrister and although he was born in Westminster, London, he grew up in Sussex before spending time on a farm school at Ross-on-Wye. From 1918 to 1922, he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and in 1922 won a three-year scholarship in Decorative Painting to the British School at Rome. In April 1924 Monnington married his fellow art student Winifred Knights.

From 1925 to 1937 Monnington lived in London where he taught part-time at the Royal College of Art and, until 1939, at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1931 he completed Supper at Emmaus for a church in Bolton. Monnington also began to receive commissions for portraits including those of Stanley Baldwin and Earl Jellicoe amongst others. In 1943 Monnington, who had taken flying lessons before the war, wrote to the War Artists' Advisory Committee, WAAC, complaining of the lack of an aerial perspective among the works WAAC had so far commissioned. and especially those such as Fighter Affiliation. from a perspective inside the aircraft, were to be among the most important such images in the WAAC collection.

Post-war career When the war ended, Monnington taught at the Camberwell School of Art from 1947 for four years and then at the Slade School of Art until 1967. Following his appointment as president of the Royal Academy in 1966, he was knighted in 1967. Monnington was the first president of the academy to produce abstract art and was highly effective in the role doing much to restore the academy's ailing fortunes. He served as president until his death in London on 7 January 1976.

Honours 1947 – Associate of the Royal Academy 1939 – Member of the Royal Academy 1957 – Fellow of University College London 1966 – President of the Royal Academy 1967 – Knighthood.