AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Woman with a Cat

Illustration © 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.

Woman with a Cat, 1942 (signed in ballpoint)
Pencil and watercolour, 11.4 cm x 17.8 cm

'The woman is Sarah [Roberts] playing with her "stupid cat, Rufus". Rufus was a ginger cat which Sarah found in a vegetable shop and which had been burnt in a fire' – Cambridge 1985 catalogue entry by John David Roberts. In fact JDR's description of Sarah 'playing with'; her cat is inaccurate, as she seems indifferent to it. JDR also notes in relation to this work, 'In the 1940s Roberts further refined his technique of watercolour and produced some of his most impressive drawings, often shading with pencil over the watercolour.' The unusual perspective taken by the artist in relation to the woman on the floor has some similarity to that of Indolence 1945.
PROVENANCE: Estate of John David Roberts, accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate 2007 (T12635). EXHIBITION HISTORY: Cambridge 1985, Tate Britain 2012
Cf. the various versions of Woman Playing with a Cat c.1943–4, which are different compositions using a vertical format.