AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Music Lovers

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.

Music Lovers, c.1937
Pencil lightly squared in red chalk, 17.8 cm x 36.2 cm
Inscribed in margin in red chalk below lower right, 'Size of panel 4'.6" x 9'.6" Drawing 1 1/2 inches to a foot'; below this the title Music Lovers. Inscribed in pencil above upper right various calculations, then, '18 x 14 1/2' and ' Size of drawing 20 ins x 14 ins' and below this '4'.6" x 9'.6"'

In the Cambridge 1985 catalogue John David Roberts states that this is a later development of Bohemians 1937 with the addition of three more figures – 'Roberts intended to produce a long panel painting to this design' – and that the intended long panel was meant as a pair with The Card Players c.1937. However, the vertical red-chalk line through the third figure from the right, corresponding to the right-hand edge of Bohemians, may suggest that this picture came first and that Bohemians is a cut-down version.

PROVENANCE: Estate of John David Roberts, accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate 2007 (T12637)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Redfern Gallery 1942? (it is not certain whether this or the version below was the 'drawing' of Music Lovers shown then), Cambridge 1985

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Music Lovers (aka Bohemians), 1938
Watercolour, pencil and gouache, 17.2 cm x 36.2 cm
Inscribed in the bottom right margin, '3 inch Mount'; signed in red top right and dated 1938 in black below the signature

This is a version of the composition Bohemians with three additional figures and a simpler background. This watercolour was a companion piece to Intellectuals c.1937 and was probably intended as a study for a large-scale oil painting which was not carried out.

PROVENANCE: Estate of John David Roberts, accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate 2007 (T12661, as Bohemians)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Redfern Gallery 1942? (it is not certain whether this or the version above was the 'drawing' of Music Lovers shown then), Tate Britain 2012