Sir Ernest Gowers, KCB, KBE, Senior Regional Commissioner for London, Lt Col A J Child, OBE, MC, Director of Operations and Intelligence, and K A L Parker, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, in the London Regional Civil Defence Control Room 1943

The Control Room was based in a specially constructed, highly protected building, sited half underground between the Geology and Natural History Museums in Kensington. Its function was to co-ordinate civil defence operations across the London local authorities, and to collect and evaluate information about the raids and their effects. The War Artists Advisory Committee had commissioned a portrait of Gowers, described by the 'Times' as ‘one of the greatest public servants of his day’, but at Gowers’ suggestion, Frampton included two other figures, representatives of the other staff.Frampton traditionally produced one painting a year, working almost exclusively on commissions. This painting is typical of his extraordinary level of observation and his ability to create light and form in an image that conveys the complexity and urgency of the room’s function as well as an almost disturbing stillness. Maps, papers and telephones all indicate surveillance and communication. The portraits are also maps of character and relationships. Gowers, a master of detail and a forceful leader, is centre stage, but there is an informality in his relations with the other staff, in the casual dress and the bottle of milk on the side table, indications that social etiquette has been put to one side in the urgent needs of the city.