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| Self-Portrait 1925 etching 12.6 x 9.8 cm |
William Roberts 1895-1980: In the years before the First World War 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 2 of a 20-part series on the works of William Roberts:
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| c1916 High Wood pen and ink with watercolour wash and pencil 35.2 x 24.8 cm |
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| c1916 German Prisoners pencil, pen, ink and watercolour 35 x 24.5 cm |
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| c1916 A Street Fight pencil, blue chalk and gouache 56 x 49.5 cm |
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| 1917 The Crown and Anchor Board pen, ink and sepia wash |
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| 1917-19 Gunners Pulling Cannons, Ypres pencil, pen, black ink and watercolour 27.4 x 47.7 cm |
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| c1917 Walking Wounded pen, ink and sepia wash |
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| c1917 La Plage pencil, pen, ink and watercolour 15.2 x 12 cm |
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| c1917 Figure Composition pencil 17.8 x 24.1 cm |
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| 1918 Dance with Tambourines pencil, pen, ink and wash 12.5 x 10 cm |
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| 1918 British Military Cemetery pencil, gouache and watercolour 17.5 x 26.5 cm |
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| 1918 Attack - The Capture of Delville Wood ink and chalk 15.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1918 A Sketch for a Shell Dump, France watercolour 30.8 x 51.2 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1918 A Shell Dump, France oil on canvas 182.8 x 317.5 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1918 A Group of Generals pencil and watercolour 35 x 30 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1918 The First Gas Attack at Ypres pencil, pen, ink, red chalk and coloured wash, squared 43 x 34 cm |
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| 1918 Signallers pencil, ink and watercolour 31.8 x 51 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1918 In the Ypres Sector. An Infantry Duck-board Track being Shelled by the Germans pencil and watercolour 37 x 29.9 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1918 Howitzer in Action pencil on paper, squared 15.2 x 20.3 cm |
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| 1918 Gunners turning out for an SOS Battery Action at Night pencil, ink and watercolour 32.3 x 31.9 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
1918 The First German Gas Attack at Ypres
"The Germans attacked with gas in the afternoon of April 22nd, 1915, and the first to feel the effects of the poisonous fumes were the French soldiers on the Canadians' left. The French troops, largely made up of Turcos and Zouaves, surged wildly back over the canal and through the village of Vlammertinghe just at dark. The Canadian reserve battalions (of the 1st Brigade) were amazed at the anguished faces of many of the French soldiers, twisted and distorted by pain, who were gasping for breath and vainly trying to gain relief by vomiting." – Canada in Flanders, vol. I. The French infantry, Zoauves and Turcos, thrown into disorder by the German gas attack, are seen retreating wildly past the guns of a Canadian Field Battery, while Canadian gunners endeavour to stay the advance of the German infantry, who are within 200 yards of the Canadian Batteries' – Royal Academy, 1919 catalogue:
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| The First German Gas Attack at Ypres red chalk, brushed with water to create pink wash and graphite with grey and brown wash on pink wove paper, squared 42.9 x 52.0 cm |
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| The First German Gas Attack at Ypres oil on canvas 304.8 x 365.8 cm |
1918 Zonnebeke
Zonnebeke is a village in west Flanders, Belgium, which was obliterated by bombardment during the First World War. German positions there were captured by Allied troops during the Battle of Menin Road in late September 1917:
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| 1918 Zonnebeke pencil and watercolour 35.2 x 24.8 cm |
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| 1918 Tommies filling their Water Bottles with Rain from a Shell Hole, Aug. 1918 ink, pencil, chalk and watercolour 50.8 x 38.1 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
1918 The Gas Chamber
'By way of a change we did gas-mask drill. Wearing our gas-masks, we had to pass through a narrow covered trench or dug-out blanketed at both ends and filled with poison gas. These practice sessions helped to pass the time' – Roberts: Memories of the War to End War 1914-18:
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| 1918 The Gas Chamber ink, pencil and watercolour 31.8 x 50.8 cm |
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| The Wiring Party study (aka Second Defence System) pencil, coloured chalk and watercolour, squared 16 x 16.5 cm |
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| The Wiring Party red chalk with grey wash 27.5 x 38 cm |
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| c1918 Watching a Raid pencil and watercolour 35.4 x 25.3 cm |
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| c1918 The March of the Guards pencil, pen, ink and watercolour 48.9 x 45.7 cm |
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| c1918 Soldiers hanging up Camouflage Screens pencil, pen, ink and watercolour 12.5 x 10 cm |
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| c1918 Soldiers Hanging Camouflage Screens Roclincourt, Arras ink and watercolour 40.6 cm x 34.9 cm Tate Gallery, London |
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| c1918 German Dug-Out pencil and watercolour 34 x 25 cm |
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| c1918 English Gothic pencil and red ink 14.5 x 18 cm |
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| c1918 Brigade Headquarters: Signallers and Linesmen ink and wash 15.2 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1919 Gas Alert pencil and watercolour 21 x 14.6 cm |
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| 1919 Died of Wounds watercolour, gouache, pen and ink, 44.5 x 53 cm |
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| 1919 Coterie magazine No.3 19 x 25.5 cm |
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| 1919 Burying the Dead after a Battle black crayon on paper 50.2 x 45.7 cm |
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| 1919 Battering Ram watercolour 35 x 35 cm (Title 'almost certainly incorrect' : Tate Gallery 1965 catalogue, p. 24) |
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| 1919 A Shell Dump ink and watercolour 44.9 x 52.5 cm |
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| 1919 Red Cross Dressing Station, Advanced Post pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour and brown chalk 39.8 x 28.3 cm |
1919 Professor Janko Lavrin
Professor Janko Lavrin spent his working life at Nottingham University, building up the Slavonic Department and writing some 50 books, until his death in 1986 at the age of 99. His wife was Nora Lavrin (née Fry), the artist and engraver.
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| 1919 Professor Janko Lavrin oil on canvas 50.8 x 40.6 cm Nottingham Castle, UK |
1919 Poster for the Exhibition of French Art
In March 1919 Sacheverell Sitwell visited Modigliani's studio in Paris and decided to put on an exhibition of French art in London (Sarah Bradford, Sacheverell Sitwell: Splendours and Miseries. Leopold Zborowski, art dealer and friend of Modigliani, was to act as agent. The exhibition was held at the Mansard Gallery in Heal's in August–September 1919, and included work by Picasso, Modigliani, Leger, Derain and Dufy. In his preface to the catalogue, Arnold Bennett described the exhibition as 'the first of its kind since the war, and the best of its kind since the celebrated exhibition at the Grafton Galleries many years ago [1910–11]'. William Roberts's poster design is a vertical composition against a yellow background. A group of stylised figures, viewed from a high perspective, are in an art-gallery context. It is similar in style to the three panels painted for the Hôtel de la Tour Eiffel in autumn 1919. The 1965 Tate Gallery catalogue notes that Roberts was not responsible for the typography.
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| 1919 Poster for the Exhibition of French Art 1914–1919 (Mansard Gallery, Heal's) lithograph 75 x 48 cm |
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| 1919 Girl Standing with Arms folded red chalk 55 x 30.5 cm |
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| Searching and Sweeping pencil, pen and black ink and grey wash, squared 16.5 x 13.3 cm |
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| Searching and Sweeping pen, charcoal and watercolour 61.0 x 48.3 cm |
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| 1919 Rosières Valley, 1918 Signallers Looping a Wire ink and watercolour 21.7 x 32 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1919 Bursting... Down! (A study for Shell Burst) pencil, ink and watercolour, squared 12.8 x 14.5 cm |
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| 1919 Shell Burst pencil, ink and watercolour 40 x 44 cm |
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