anon

“ Mears, a slim, fragile women, believed in the genius of her husband, and encouraged him to persevere. Thus stimulated, he painted a picture which expressed the whole spirit of the war—of war as it is, as the solider sees it, and not as seen by the conventional artist. ”

“ In a small bed-sitting-room (without a bed) a London metal worker is painting war pictures which are bought by dukes and duchesses. He and his wife work, sleep, wash clothes, and have their meals in a room about 9ft by 6ft at the top of 13, Windmill Street, Tottenham Court Road.
There is no bed in the garret, partly because there is no room for it, and also because Mr. F. J. Mears, late of the R.G.A., cannot afford to buy one. So he and his wife sleep on the floor.
Before the war Mr. Mears was a metal worker of exceptional skill, earning good wages. ”

“ Few, probably, suspected that the man who had painted these singularly powerful criticisms of war was an invalid metal worker living with his wife in a bed-sitting room (without a bed) up a squalid passage in Tottenham Court-road. ”