ALAN THORNHILL (1921-2020)
Rt Hon Franck Cousins, head of the Trade Union Congress
signed AT (to the back of the neck)
patinated terracotta
37 x 26 cm (14 1/2 x 10 1/4 in)

Executed in 1971 at the sitter's home in Wrington near Bristol.

PROVENANCE:
Artist's estate

Born in Bulwell on the outskirts of Nottingham, Franck Cousins (1904-1986), followed in his father's foorsteps as a miner, his first job as a fourteen year old working as a collier down the local pit. He subsequently became a lorry driver, and an active member of the road transport section of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Appointed National Secretary of Road Transport (Commercial) Group in 1948 he became Assistant General Secretary of the TGWU in 1955, and was elected to the Labour Party's National Executive Committee the same year. He became General Secretary of the TGWU in 1956, a post he held until 1969. Closely aligned with the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, he was elected an MP for Nuneaton in 1965, and served in Wilson's Cabinet as Minister of Technology from 1964-1966.

For further details on the artist, please check: https://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/news-item/open-studio-of-alan-thornhill/?pc=6