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William Mitchell murals

Restoration of the murals

William Mitchell (1925 - 2020) was a prolific industrial artist and designer, best known for his large scale abstract concrete murals of the 1950s to 1970s. During the war he served as a petty officer on Royal Navy destroyers and later painted murals in NAAFI clubs and Ministry of Defence buildings. He then studied at the Royal College of Art, focusing on woodworking, metalworking and plastics and received the Prix de Rome. He was appointed Design Consultant to the London County Council in the 1950s and his work began to focus on civic spaces: pedestrian underpasses, roundabouts and squares.

He was commissioned by the LCC to decorate the entrances of two six­-storey housing blocks in Lewisham between 1957 and 1963. One mural is made from offcuts of wood and bits of old furniture - bannisters, dado rails and chair legs - arranged on baseboards and sanded down and varnished. It depicts abstract forms of birds, fountains, castles and sunbursts. The other mural is made from concrete (poured concrete into a clay matrix) and is more purely abstract. The concrete mural was painted in bright colours in subsequent decades. In total, Mitchell is believed to have produced around 100 pieces of public art in London. Over fifteen of his works now have Grade II or Grade II* listed status.

Large areas of the wooden mural show extensive surface damage. The wood has suffered discolouration and swelling from exposure to UV and rain, and the resin seems to have been abraded using a coarse pad or wire, possibly in an attempt to clean off what was sunlight damage. Restoration will include cleaning, a light sanding to remove abrasions, and polishing, followed by application of wood oil to protect against further UV and weather damage.

The concrete mural is in better condition but has a visible crack in the upper right corner. The current paint will be removed and the concrete repaired. It will then be repainted with a mineral paint sympathetic to concrete and allowing moisture evaporation.

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