Object of the Month: May 2022

Chosen by: Claire Cooper, Documentation Officer

Collection: Fine Art

Object Names:

Market Street Decorated for the Coronation

London Road Decorated for the Coronation

F. Ivor Glenton (b.1933), Gouache, 1953

Purchased from Mr F. Ivor Glenton, 1956

Gallery

Market Street Decorated for the Coronation 1953
© F. Ivor Glenton

London Road Decorated for the Coronation 1953
© F. Ivor Glenton

These two gouache paintings depict Leicester city centre strewn with Union Jack flags at the time of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Market Street is easily recognisable in its view up to King Street. The view of London Road, however, is less obvious as it prominently features the Evening Mail building, which no longer exists. The Art Deco-style building was designed by Shirley Harrison of Stockdale Harrison and Sons, who also designed De Montfort Hall. It was demolished after being bought by a developer sometime after the Mail stopped being published (the paper was subsumed into the Leicester Mercury in 1963).

The Object of the Month can be seen in person from Tuesday 3rd until Monday 30th May at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery.