"Lemmons" is a Georgian villa in Barnet which was owned by the novelists Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard from 1968. Sargy lived with them there in the late 1960s/early 1970s.  This vividly coloured snapshot belongs to his series of on-the-spot sketches that he referred to as "sketchbook paintings"*.

 

*Peter & Sargy Mann, 2008, Sargy Mann; Probably the Best Blind Painter in Peckham

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Sargy Mann was born in Hythe, Kent in 1937. He studied at the Camberwell School of Art and then returned to the school as a lecturer from 1969-1988. He held a number of other academic and curatorial positions including, co-curator of the "Bonnard at le Bosquest" exhibition at the Hayward Gallery ( 1994) and Visiting lecturer at the Prince's Drawing School (1999-2008). He exhibited extensively at the Royal Academy, Royal College of Art and the Mall Galleries.

 

Sargy was diagnosed with cataracts at the age of 36 and ultimately lost his sight but continued to paint and exhibit to astonishing effect for the last 25 years of his life.

 

His obituary can be read here.