AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Illustrations for the London Health Centre Ltd

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Across the Counter, date unknown – suggest 1958 (signed)
Pencil and watercolour, 35.6 cm x 22.9 cm

The picture appears to show Ernest Cooper’s health-food shop, the London Health Centre Ltd, doing extraordinarily good business.

The London Health Centre was a health-food business established in 1934 by Ernest Cooper (1910–98), initially in Wigmore Street, London, but later with branches in Kensington, Golders Green and Kingston upon Thames, and eventually in Oxford and Buxton too. Sarah Roberts had got to know Cooper through his first wife, Sadie, who for a time worked at the Ben Uri Gallery, which had dealings with Sarah’s brother, Jacob Kramer, and she introduced him to her husband. From the late 1940s Cooper was to become Roberts’s chief patron, and as well as buying works from Roberts he also commissioned him to produce illustrations for the London Health Centre. In 1965 Cooper sold his company to Heath and Heather Ltd.

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Across the Counter, suggest 1958. Pencil and watercolour

Basket of Fruit with Bottles, c.1953. Pen and ink

Bees Gathering Pollen, c.1953. Pen and ink

Bread: The Whole-Wheat Way to Health, c.1953. Cover design

Change of Address, 1960–61. Pen and ink

Children Eating and Drinking, c.1953. Pen, ink and watercolour

Christmas Party, 1956. Pen and ink

Couple Harvesting, c.1953. Pen and ink

Good Food for Growing Children, c.1948. Cover design

Hands Cracking Walnuts, c.1953. Pen and ink

Huntsmen, 1956. Pen and ink

Large Family at Table, c.1953. Pen and ink

Lovers Eating Chocolates in the Theatre, c.1953. Pen and ink

Mother and Children Picnicking, c.1948. Pen and ink

Milking Goats, 1948–53. Pen and ink

Native Women Sorting Fruit, c.1953. Pen and ink

Salads for All Seasons, c.1953. Cover design

Sheaves of Wheat, c.1953. Pen and ink

A Simple Guide to Healthy Food, c.1953. Cover design

Spring Lambing, 1956. Pen and ink

Sun-bathing, 1956. Pen and ink

Towards Better Health – study, c.1953. Pencil and watercolour

Towards Better Health, c.1953. Pen, black ink, watercolour, gouache and pencil

Woman Picking Nuts, c.1953. Pen and ink

Women Gathering Seaweed, c.1953. Pen and ink