AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

The Boxing Match

Illustration © The Estate of John David Roberts. Catalogue information based on the catalogue raisonné by David Cleall. For this and full details of the exhibitions cited, see the links below. Any auction prices quoted may not include all fees and taxes, such as VAT and Artist's Resale Right charges.

The Boxing Match (aka The Champion and The Champion's Victory?), c.1926
Oil on canvas, 36 cm x 41 cm

Filming of a boxing match from a gantry, as shown, appears towards the end of Alfred Hitchock's 1927 silent film The Ring; but WR may have seen such filming for himself on visits to boxing matches.
PROVENANCE: With Anthony d'Offay (1972) > Erich Sommer > Christie's 9 June 2000 (£36,425) > private collection > Sotheby's 15 Nov. 2011 (£217,250) > Frank Cohen > private collection
EXHIBITION HISTORY: New Chenil Galleries (2) 1926? (as The Champion's Victory), Southport 1928? (as The Champion: 'a realistic boxing scene, the victim being counted out' – Southport Visiter, 14 Jan. 1928), New English Art Club 1986, Chichester 2007 (not included in the catalogue), Fortnum & Mason 2016
Cf. Interval Before Round Ten 1919–20, Novices c.1921, Boxers 1914, Boxers 1919, Boxers c.1921, Outclassed 1922