Alfred Thomson was born deaf and attended the Royal School for the Deaf and Dumb. He studied at the Royal School of Art and became known as a portrait painter who was equally at home designing film posters. During World War II he served as an official war artist painting scenes of military and civilian life in Great Britain. Thomson was also adept at creating murals and as a caricaturist. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1948 for his painting of boxers at the London Amateur Boxing Championships. The full title is The London Amateur Boxing Championship held at the Royal Albert Hall. It is a painting in oil on canvas measuring 116.8 x 88.9 cm. It last changed hands at Christie’s in 2012 for around 90,000 Euros. This was the only time that a British painter was victorious in the Olympic arts competitions.
Great Britain