AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Portrait of a Boy

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.

Portrait of a Boy (aka John and Boy in a Blue Jersey), c.1929
Oil on canvas, 69 cm x 60 cm

This is usually dated as 1927, but John (b. 1919) appears to be about ten years old and is certainly noticeably older than in the portrait dated as c.1927. When exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1965 (no. 34), this was said to have been exhibited as Portrait of a Boy at the Redfern Gallery in 1942, but it seems more likely that it is Boy in a Blue Jersey shown then.
PROVENANCE: Contemporary Art Society (1942, £60) > Cyfartha Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Merthyr Tydfil (1943)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: London Artists' Association (1) 1929 (as John, 50 gns), Redfern Gallery 1942, Tate Gallery 1965