9 July
ARCHIVE
Hermon Cawthra
archive
Portfolio of
Selfridge's decorations for the coronation, 1937
h 38.5, w 25.5
cm Donated by Captain Laurence Armstrong Davis, 1995
Selfridges'
decorations for the coronation celebrations of George VI
and Queen Elizabeth were very elaborate but were only meant to be
temporary and were above all a `private' contribution. The themes
used for the decorations are mainly relating to the history of
Britain starting with the druids, going to the Queen Boadicea (by
Clare Sheridan, see 18 July), Britons under roman
rule, King Arthur,
Vikings, William the Conqueror, Magna Carta, Wars of the Roses,
Drake, Cromwell, the armistice (meaning end of world war I) and
ending with the different colonies. The plaster showing India was
made by Cawthra. He had already gained experience in the
`entertainment industry' in the late 1920s. A substantial body of
his work consists of commissions for cinemas and theatres.
Examples
of this can be seen in several albums held in our archive. Over
the
entrance was the central group of the empire's homage to the
throne.
Also 30 paintings of incidents in the sovereign's life were put
up,
as were a decoration showing ports of the British Empire, and let
peace prevail (by Gilbert Bayes soon represented in our archive).
All this must have been quite a sigh. It is hard to tell how
large
the plasters were but the golden tassels alone must have been
gigantic.
