AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Girl Playing Guitar + study

Illustrations © The Estate of John David Roberts. 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.

Girl Playing Guitar (aka Sarah with Guitar) – study, c.1943
Watercolour and pencil, squared, 18.4 cm x 12.7 cm

When auctioned in 2007 this was dated to 1931, but the style seems more consistent with works from the early 1940s – cf. The Guitarist (John) 1943.
PROVENANCE: Piccadilly Gallery > Edgar Astaire > Bloomsbury Auctions 3 May 2007 (£3,500)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester (date unknown)

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Girl Playing Guitar (aka Girl with Guitar), c.1943
Watercolour and pencil, 54 cm x 36.8 cm

In the Artmonsky Arts 2001 catalogue this was dated to c.1931, and there and when auctioned in 2002 it was identified with a picture exhibited at the London Artists' Association in 1931 – cf. Girl Playing a Guitar c.1931 – but the style seems more consistent with works from the early 1940s and it looks like a companion piece for The Guitarist (John), which is dated to 1943.
PROVENANCE: WR > Eleanor de Zoysa > Kumari Jayawardena > Christie's 7 June 2001 (£5,288) > ? > Christie's 6 June 2002 (£6,214)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Colombo 1947, Artmonsky Arts 2001