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| Self-Portrait 1960 27.5 x 18.5 cm |
Roberts was a pioneer, among English artists, in his use of abstract images. In later years he described his approach as that of an "English Cubist". In the First World War he served as a gunner on the Western Front, and in 1918 became an official war artist. Roberts's first one-man show was at the Chenil Gallery in London in 1923, and a number of his paintings from the twenties were purchased by the Contemporary Art Society for provincial galleries in the UK. In the 1930s it could be argued that Roberts was artistically at the top of his game; but, although his work was exhibited regularly in London and, increasingly, internationally, he always struggled financially. This situation became worse during the Second World War – although Roberts did carry out some commissions as a war artist.
Roberts is probably best remembered for the large, complex and colourful compositions that he exhibited annually at the Royal Academy summer exhibition from the 1950s until his death. He had a major retrospective at the Tate Gallery in 1965, and was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1966. There has recently been a revival of interest in the work of this artist who always worked outside the mainstream.
Note: All images © reserved (Bona Vacantia)
This is part 9 of a 20-part series on the works of William Roberts:
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| 1934 The Family pencil 18 x 15.5 cm |
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| 1934 The Family pencil, squared 20 x 17 cm |
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| 1934 The Family oil on canvas 51.4 x 43.8 cm Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries, UK |
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| 1934-35 Skipping (The Gutter) oil on canvas 144.5 x 70.7 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1934 Bohemians study pencil 17.3 x 24.3 cm |
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| c1934 Bohemians study pencil, lightly squared in red chalk 17.8 x 36.2 cm |
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| c1934 Bohemians red chalk 35 x 50 cm |
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| c1934 Bohemians watercolour, graphite and gouache on paper 17.2 x 36.2 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1934 Helen (aka Helen Brook) oil on canvas 43.5 x 32.9 cm |
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| c1934 Masks oil on canvas 102 x 127 cm |
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| c1934 Sarah (aka Portrait of a Woman Wearing Ear-rings) oil on canvas 43.2 x 33 cm |
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| c1934 Study for ‘Shuttlecock' graphite on paper, squared 16.5 x 12.1 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1934 Shuttlecock gouache 24.1 x 18.2 cm |
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| c1934 shuttlecock oil on canvas 53 x 41 cm |
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| c1935 Major E. O. Kay (aka Portrait of a Man Wearing a Monocle) pencil 28.9 x 23.9 cm |
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| c1935 Sarah with Headscarf oil on canvas 43.5 x 33.3 cm |
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| 1936 Apple Pickers study pencil 27.7 x 19.4 cm |
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| 1936 Apple Pickers oil on canvas 55 x 39.8 cm |
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| 1936 Folk Dance study watercolour, squared 21.5 x 32 cm |
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| 1936 Folk Dance oil on canvas 86 x 127 cm |
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| 1936-37 Sarah pencil 30.5 x 24.7 cm |
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| 1936-38 Cricket pencil on paper, squared for transfer 25.4 x 15.2 cm The Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art, London |
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| Cricket pencil and yellow wash 50 x 30 cm |
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| c1936-39 Oboe Players graphite on paper, squared 25.4 x 15.2 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1936-39 Oboe Players pencil and watercolour, squared 50 x 30 cm |
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| 1937 Chamber Music study pencil 17 x 20.3 cm |
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| 1937 Chamber Music pencil, squared 25 x 30 cm |
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| 1937 Chamber Music watercolour over pencil heightened with white 25 x 30 cm |
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| 1937 The Palm Foretells pencil, squared 13 x 10.5 cm |
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| 1937 The Palm Foretells pencil 25 x 20 cm |
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| 1937 The Palm Foretells watercolour and gouache 25 x 20 cm |
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| 1937 The Palm Foretells (details not given - oil on canvas?) Bristol Museum, UK |
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| 1937-38 The Tea Room (aka The Good Old Days) pencil, squared 22 x 20 cm |
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| 1937-38 The Tea Room (aka The Good Old Days) pencil and watercolour 27.7 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1937-38 The Tea Room (aka The Good Old Days) pencil, squared 27.9 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1937-38 The Tea Room (aka The Good Old Days) oil on canvas 82.5 x 75 cm |
1938 He Knew Degas
The picture shows the painter Walter Sickert (1860–1942) working in bed while his third wife, Thérèse Lessore (herself a painter, 24 years younger), cuts photographs out of newspapers. In the 1920s and '30s Sickert controversially based a number of pictures on newspaper photographs, and in early 1938 both the Daily Telegraph and The Sketch published a photograph (see last image below) showing him and his wife surrounded by a sea of newspaper cuttings in the artist's studio at St Peter's Thanet.
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| 1938 He Knew Degas pencil study, squared 15 x 15 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1938 He Knew Degas study, squared pencil 26.3 x 26.3 cm |
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| 1938 He Knew Degas gouache and pencil 25.4 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1938 He Knew Degas oil on canvas 91.5 x 91.5 cm |
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| Daily Sketch photo |
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| 1938 John (aka John Roberts) pencil 33 x 22.5 cm |
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| 1938 Tea Shop oil on canvas 82.5 x 76.2 cm Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, UK |
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| 1938 Water Polo pencil and coloured washes, squared, 30 x 50 cm |
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| 1939 Errand Boys watercolour and pencil 20.3 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1939 Errand Boys oil on canvas 81 x 102 cm |
1939 Punting on the Cherwell
Punting on the Cherwell was painted in 1939, soon after Roberts moved with his wife, Sarah, to Oxford. It pre-dates his later paintings of canal scenes depicting Regents Canal, which occupied him after he had moved back to London after the Second World War. The present work illustrates Roberts’s dynamic approach to spatial construction with the complex design held together by strong verticals created by the punting poles.
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| 1939 Punting on the Cherwell black chalk 27 x 18.4 cm |
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| 1939 Punting on the Cherwell oil on canvas 62.3 x 54.5 cm Jerwood Collection, UK |
