AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Homage à Stulik

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.

Homage à Stulik (inscribed 'Stulik among the Artists'), 1948
Pencil, ink and watercolour, 39.6 cm x 28.7 cm

The Austrian chef Rudolph Stulik was the proprietor of the Hôtel de la Tour Eiffel at 1 Percy Street, London W1, a favourite haunt of artists and writers. 'Three of the artists were based more or less on Wyndham Lewis, Augustus John and Roberts himself, the other two were made up' – Tate Gallery 1965 catalogue, p. 29. 'Note the halo' – John Roberts in the catalogue of the Gillian Jason Gallery 1990 exhibition where the pencil study for this picture was shown.
PROVENANCE: Museum of Modern Art (gift in honour of Myron Orlofsky, 1978); 'The Museum sent William Roberts forty-four questions concerning the picture' – John Roberts in the Gillian Jason Gallery 1990 catalogue (see above).
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Leicester Galleries (3) 1949, Tate Gallery 1965
N.B. an early working of The Vorticists at the Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel 1961–2, but quite different.