Memories of art school

Published: 25 November, 2010

• I WRITE in response to the article on the St John’s Wood Art School (November 11).

I am 91 but at the age of 16, I was a student at the school in Elm Tree Road. One of the students was John Minton. We spent many hours drinking that black liquid from a bottle called Camp Coffee. Two of the people you mention were my teachers: Mr Millard and Mr Perry.

John Minton resembled one of the people painted by El Greco. I was at the art school for two years, until war broke out, when it closed.

Once a week, a groom brought over a horse from the nearby cavalry, and stood in the school’s forecourt, while we painted the horse.

I was involved in fashion drawings; all the fashion adverts at the time were hand-drawn, as photography was in its infancy.

Once a year my teacher took me to Paris for the fashion show, which were like theatrical productions.

PHILLIS WARSHAW
Finchley Road, NW3