Lord of the Flies c1963
Oil on canvas 47 x 75 cm

In the 1960s, moving from Islington to unfashionable Walthamstow, Cyril Mann befriended a butcher, who kept him supplied with ghoulish subject matter. This pig's head and beef bone, Lord of the Flies, is an example

These are among Mann's best works, painted with technical dexterity at great speed, without preliminary sketches. Other subjects in the series include pheasants, a hare, and a boiling fowl.