About the Shaw Library Artwork
There are numerous significant artworks in the Shaw Library, including a double portrait of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, portraits of LSE Directors and the Fabian window.
Sidney and Beatrice Webb
Oil on canvas, 1928
The double portrait of Sidney and Beatrice Webb was painted by Sir William Nicholson in 1928 to mark their 70th birthdays. It was funded by public subscription and shows the Webbs, with their pet dog, at their country house, Passfield Corner.
Fabian Window
Window by Caroline Townsend 1878- 1944. Stained glass window design commissioned by George Bernard Shaw for the Fabian Society in 1910.
The window was originally stolen from Beatrice Webb House in 1978 but was recovered in 2005 by the Webb Memorial Trust and is on long term loan to the LSE. The window depicts Shaw, Sidney Webb and ER Pease (secretary of the Fabian Society) helping to build the new world. They are in Elizabethan dress which was to poke fun at Pease who loved everything medieval. The people depicted at the bottom were leading members of the Society.
More information is available at A piece of Fabian history unveiled at LSE.
Director’s Portraits
Portraits of LSE Directors are displayed on either side of the Shaw Library.
Professor Judith Rees with the artist Mark Roscoe at the reception in the Shaw Library for the unveiling of his portrait of her on the 5th June 2013.