ODEON Cinema, Balham - 1938

My latest piece celebrates the legacy of Oscar Deutsch. Oscar built the ODEON cinema group from 1928 to his death in 1941. The ODEON Balham opened in 1938. It was half destroyed by bombing in WWII and was quickly rebuilt. It survived as an ODEON until 1972, reopening in 1974 as The Liberty; showing Asian movies until 1980. Since then, it has been converted into apartments and now hosts a wine merchant on the lower floors, and some ugly phone masts on the roof. Unfortunately, the building has not received the same protection and love afforded to other structures of the period. After visiting it recently, and seeing its sorry state, I decided it needed to be my next subject and should be restored to the glory of its heyday. If no one else is showing it the love it deserves, then I must do what I can to preserve it in my own way.

If you'd like a memento of London’s cinematic past; you can get hold of a copy of this work on all the usual gear.

Keywords:

Art, Outline, Contrast, Modern, Illustration, Vector, Graphic design, Digital, Odeon, Cinema, Balham, Clapham, Wandsworth, Movies, Theater, Theatre, Modernist, Art deco, Architecture, Oscar Deutsch, 3D, Cinema 4D, 1930s, 1938