In this magnificent volume, author and journalist David Buckman has done the near impossible. He has managed to combine the ‘once-almost-invisible story of the East London Group’ of artists into a volume that is both beautifully illustrated and finely researched.

But who were the East London Group? Well, on the most basic level they were ‘one of the most active’ artistic groups in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. Their work was featured in the Whitechapel Art Gallery and the National Gallery, Millbank (now Tate Britain).

But if we look closer, they were made up of the likes of John Cooper, the Yorkshire Methodist’s grocer’s son who was invalided out of WWI. Albert Turpin, a window cleaner, sailor and mayor of Bethnal Green. Grace Oscroft, an ironmonger’s daughter from Bow, and Phyllis Bray, a ‘rebellious’ daughter of an aide to Tzar Nicholas II’s mother. These are all ordinary people who are extraordinary artists.

A painting by Phyllis Bray whose works encompass themes of myth and nature

Encompassing many different styles, the common thread of the works is the subject of working London in the interwar years. They painted scenes of the everyday, capturing the people who called the streets of East London home.

We see wharfs and lumber yards, terrace house roofs, children playing and crowd gatherings. There is a cacophony of life packed in these pages.

Buckman wears the depth of his research lightly and this 400-page tome is a joy to read. It is very much a book to dip in and out of, each time picking up on a new detail you might have missed. For instance, in the above picture, what seems to be a placid harbour scene hints at the omnipresence of war.

If, having enjoyed the curation with Buckman’s book, you have more to discover about the East London Group, there is a sister exhibition running at the Batsford Gallery until 21st June which celebrates the work of Phyllis Bray.

If you are a lover of art and culture this is the perfect book to have on your coffee table.