AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

The Gutter + studies

Illustration © The Estate of John David Roberts. Reproduced with the permission of the William Roberts Society. 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.

Piggy-back Fight – study for a detail from The Gutter, 1934–5
Pencil, 17 cm x 11.5 cm, with a drawing Dustman on the verso
Red chalk, 15 cm x 9.7 cm

PROVENANCE: Estate of John David Roberts (held in Tate store, 2014)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Gillian Jason Gallery (2) 1986

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Recorder Players – study for a detail from The Gutter, 1934–5
Pencil, 18.5 cm x 27 cm

PROVENANCE: Estate of John David Roberts (held in Tate store, 2014)

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The Gutter – study, 1934–5
Pencil, 23.6 cm x 40 cm

PROVENANCE: J. T. Morais (1971) > ? > Bonhams 18 Mar. 2009 (£6,600)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Hamet Gallery 1971, Exeter 1971, Reading 1983, Albemarle Gallery 1989

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The Gutter – study, 1934–5
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour, 21.5 cm x 39.5 cm

PROVENANCE: Alex, Reid & Lefevre > ? > Christie's 5 June 1992 (£9,900)

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The Gutter (split as The Playground and Skipping – see below – after Toledo 1942 exhibition?), 1934– 5

The Playground
Oil on canvas, 144 cm x 152.4 cm

Skipping
Oil on canvas 144 cm x 70.5 cm

The painting is signed and dated as 1936. However, the Tate Gallery 1965 catalogue says that Roberts painted it at Haverstock Hill in 1934–5 and that 'The canvas was divided into two after its return from the USA as it had been slightly damaged and also because Roberts decided that it would not sell on such a scale . . . he made this exceptionally large picture because he had heard that artists were being commissioned to paint pictures for a new Cunard or P&O liner' (p. 16).
PROVENANCE: Ernest Cooper > Tate Gallery (T02346 and T02347)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Lefevre Gallery 1938 (300 gns), Pittsburgh 1938, New York 1939, Toledo 1942, Tate Gallery 1965, Worthing 1972, Liverpool 2001, Chichester 2007