Brian Thomas (church artist)
Brian Thomas (1912–1989) was a British artist best known for his decorative work in church buildings, particularly murals and stained glass. Biography. Brian Thomas was born in Barnstaple, Devon, on 19 September 1912 to Frank and Margaret (née Lauder). He was educated at Bradfield College and awarded a science scholarship to study at Oxford University. He chose instead to attend the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. There he won a scholarship to the British School at Rome to study mural painting and travelled widely in Italy and Spain. During the war, he worked in  the camouflage section of Home Security. From 1946 to 1954, he was principal of the Byam Shaw School of Art. He was a Master of the Art Workers Guild (1957) and a Master of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass. In 1961 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He died on 13 December 1989, and a memorial service was held at St Giles in the Fields in London.;; A ‘Brian Thomas Memorial Prize’ (worth £2000 in 2018) is awarded by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass as part of  its annual Stevens Competition for Architectural Glass. Iconography. A photograph of Thomas at work in his studio in St John's Wood, London, taken by Chris Ware (Keystone Features), about 1955, can be found in the Getty Images online database. It shows him painting glass panels for newly commissioned altar rails at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The chapel's altar-rails project is described, with images of the panels themselves, in the December 1956 "Report of the Society of the Friends of St George's and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter" Brian Thomas (church artist) Brian