In January 1930 Reginald Brill went to Cairo at the invitation of the Egyptian Government to paint in Cairo and mount an exhibition to sell his paintings. Since 1882, Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire, had been occupied by British forces with British officials seconded to Egypt’s army and civil service. Brill was introduced to one such retired but well-connected British resident, Major Robert Gayer-Anderson, who befriended him and introduced him to influential people. These included Mirrit and Gueffry Boutros-Ghali, sons of a former prime minister, whose portraits he drew. He also produced a self-portrait wearing a fez to commemorate his time in Cairo, as well as paintings of some of the city’s mosques. Detail from ‘Cairo Mosque’, 1930 is illustrated. His one man show in March 1930 was more successful than he anticipated and the sale proceeds enabled him to extend his journey home via the Greek islands and Italy. This success probably owed much to the Major’s influence as well as Brill’s talent and Reginald and his wife Rosalie became regular guests of the Gayer-Anderson brothers at Little Hall.
During his early visits to the Gayer-Andersons in the 1930s, Brill painted some fine landscapes of the countryside around Lavenham and Cockfield. He produced his largest and finest body of Suffolk-inspired work after moving to Little Hall to run the Gayer-Anderson Hostel for Art Students. In his diary he claims that it was his idea that Little Hall should become an annex to the Kingston School of Art to fulfil the brothers’ wish that it be used by young artists.
Following the death of Thomas Gayer-Anderson in June 1960 Brill began spending time at Little Hall although he did not retire as principal of Kingston School of Art until July 1962. The preparatory sketch for the painting ‘Snow in the Garden’, at Little Hall, is dated 31 December 1961 showing he was spending time there well before the first students arrived in February 1963. The Hall’s life as an art students’ hostel ended in 1969 when the funding for the hostel ended and the Brills welcomed the last group of students. Reginald Brill continued to live at Little Hall until his death in 1974.
