AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Sun-bathing + studies

Copyrighted material on this page is included as 'fair use', for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of the copyright owner. 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.

Sun-bathing – study, 1931
Black chalk, 15 cm x 18 cm

EXHIBITION HISTORY: Anthony d'Offay Gallery (2) 1980

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Sun-bathing -- study

Sun-bathing – study, 1931
Pencil, squared, 16.5 cm x 20 cm

PROVENANCE: Estate of John David Roberts (held in Tate store, 2014)

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Sun-bathing, 1931
Pencil, squared in red ink, 23.5 cm x 28.6 cm

PROVENANCE: T. E. Lowinsky (collection stamp bottom right) > Raymond Mortimer > Anthony d'Offay > Lord Croft (1980) > Christie's 4 June 1999 (£4,830)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: British Council (2) 1947, Anthony d'Offay Gallery (2) 1980

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Sun-bathing -- study

Sun-bathing – study (aka Sun-bathers), 1931
Watercolour and pencil, 25.5 cm x 35.6 cm

PROVENANCE: Redfern Gallery > Contemporary Art Society (1942) > National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (1948, as Sunbathers)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: London Artists' Association (3) 1931 (as Sun-bathers: colour study, 7 gns), Lefevre Gallery 1938 (as Sun-bathers, 10 gns), Redfern Gallery 1942 (as Sun-bathers; sold for 15 gns)

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Sun-bathing (aka Sun-bathers and Sea Bathers), 1931
Pen, ink and watercolour, 34 cm x 50 cm

PROVENANCE: Redfern Gallery > Contemporary Art Society (1942, as Sun-bathers) > Northampton Art Gallery (1956, as Sea Bathers)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: London Artists’ Association (3) 1931 (as Sun-bathing, 10 gns), CEMA tour 1944, CEMA tour (2) 1945, Tate Gallery 1965 (as Sun-bathing)

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Sun-bathing (aka Sun-bathers), 1931
Oil on canvas, 91.5 cm x 112 cm

PROVENANCE: Purchased from the artist by Ernest Cooper > Sotheby's 21 Nov. 1973 (as Sun-bathers, £5,500) > David Hughes (by 1979) > Christie's (1 July 1993) > Jonathan Marland
EXHIBITION HISTORY: London Artists' Association (3) 1931 (100 gns), New York 1933, Canada and USA 1935 ('This is Cubist in derivation, presumably, and into it has gone a savage satirical note, as well as a lot of too-careful arrangement of line and mass . . . The effect will probably not be friendly on most' – Evening Citizen (Ottawa), 4 Jan. 1935; ' . . . with its human beings like statues carved out of wood, its solid shadows, its pattern of stiff limbs; it has a humor and a cynicism that give it a modern approach' – The Gazette (Montreal), 8 Mar. 1935), Wakefield 1936 (£120), Hull 1936 ('looks upon a section of humanity with swollen, vulgar bodies trimmed with beer and gramophone records' – Hull Daily Mail, 1 July 1936), Pittsburgh 1936, Lefevre Gallery 1938 (120 gns), Royal Academy 1940 (as Sun-bathers: 'Whether you like it or not, this is painting of great integrity, and its subject-matter provides one of the most complete illustrations of contemporary working-class life that exists' – Herbert Read, The Listener, 11 Jan. 1940), Redfern Gallery 1942, Tate Gallery 1965 (where dated 1936) and tour, Worthing 1972, Parkin Gallery 1976, Commonwealth Institute 1977, Hayward Gallery 1979, Nottingham 2006, Chichester 2007, Chichester (2) 2016
REPRODUCED: The Graphic, 7 Nov. 1931